


Till Human Voices Wake Us: Gen

by ivorygates



Series: Till Human Voices Wake Us [3]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-13
Updated: 2013-04-13
Packaged: 2017-12-08 07:47:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/758874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivorygates/pseuds/ivorygates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is one of three versions of is the same story (the exact same story! Really!). This is the gen one. </p>
<p>(Yes.  Mark your calenders.  Ivorygates writes canon-compliant gen.)</p>
    </blockquote>





	Till Human Voices Wake Us: Gen

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of three versions of is the same story (the exact same story! Really!). This is the gen one. 
> 
> (Yes. Mark your calenders. Ivorygates writes canon-compliant gen.)

The last day of his life begins like any ordinary day.

He arrives at The Mountain for the morning briefing. It's a mission to PX8-925, their first mission since Oannes. At least Oannes had a name in the reports instead of just the meaningless string of letters and numbers assigned by the Gate computer that doesn't really represent the planet itself. Most of the time they never do manage to find out what the natives call -- or called -- the planets they visit.  
  
This morning there probably won't be any natives at all. The MALP (Mobile Analytical Lab Platform) went through last week to check for air quality and found none of the indicators that would tell them that there were any people there -- or any large animals, for that matter. Today's mission will be a standard reconnaissance to see if anybody might have been there once and left anything interesting. Daniel knows Jack will be hoping for weapons. Daniel is always hoping for one of two things: information that will lead them to Sha're, or something _interesting._

Weapons are not interesting.

At the briefing they go over everything one more time. He isn't really sure what the point is. Jack didn't listen last time and he probably isn't listening this time; the man doesn't read his memos and Daniel knows perfectly well that Jack doesn't even read the reports he and Sam write. He's still more than a little irritated by the mess Jack left in his apartment, too. He'd thought the idea had been to close it down because they thought he was dead, not throw the contents of his bookshelves all over the floor and leave. He still hasn't gotten everything back in order.

Jack _does_ pay attention when Sam mentions she's having some problems with the Gate, though, and at the last moment it looks as if the mission is going to be scrubbed; Sam says the dialing computers are throwing out anomalies and she's going to have to spend the morning running a full diagnostic. Daniel's sure Jack will take the opportunity to postpone the mission, even though Sam says her work won't interfere with routine Gate operations, but instead Jack suggests making it a threesome and having Sam catch up to them later if everything checks out.

So they go.

#

No matter what happens afterward, going through the Gate is always a rush, and arriving on each new planet, taking that first breath of alien air with reassembled lungs, makes Daniel feel as if he's been given the chance to start his life over again. This time he doesn't feel any heavier than he did on Earth, which is nice; he hates the clumsiness that a change in gravity brings. He follows Teal'c down the steps, glancing around curiously. They're in a second-growth forest; the new trees have come up pretty near the Gate. The air smells a little like woodsmoke -- probably a forest fire from a lightning strike -- and a lot like flowers, but though his nose prickles, it's not too bad, and he can load up on more antihistamines later if it gets worse. The light is bright, and he checks the position of the sun; it's already near noon here. It's early morning on Earth, and they'll spend probably at least half a day here and go back and it will still be early afternoon in Colorado Springs. His days aren't twenty-four hours long any more. They haven't been since he went to Abydos.

He passes Teal'c and the DHD and looks back. Jack, as usual, is still standing on the steps surveying his surroundings before moving out, still framed by the radiance of the incoming wormhole. Daniel spares a moment to wish Sam were with them; routine means basically just a long hike through pretty scenery unless they find something and without Sam here he won't really have anyone to talk to. Jack will be complaining about the existence of trees -- how can anybody not like trees? -- while acting as if he expects them to attack at any moment, and Teal'c isn't really very chatty. Neither of them takes a lot of interest in the things that Daniel finds fascinating; he's gotten used to it, but sometimes it's hard to find common ground.

He realizes he'd better stop walking before Jack calls him back -- those trees might attack at any moment -- and so he stops and turns, looking back toward the Stargate.

And so he and Teal'c are both looking back at Jack in the moment when the event horizon flashes from blue to white.

Two-hundred fifty pounds of Jaffa warrior suddenly lands on top of him, driving him to the ground and forcing all the air from his lungs. A moment later Teal'c is up and running, shouting Jack's name: _O'Neill._ It's precious seconds after that before Daniel realizes he needs to be up, moving, that something's gone horribly wrong.

He staggers to his feet, coughing and gagging as he tries to fill his lungs, running back toward the Gate, back up the steps that he walked down less than five minutes before. Teal'c is kneeling on the stones and he doesn't see Jack anywhere.

Then he does.

"Oh, god, no."

The body lying prone before the Gate isn't just burned, it's been carbonized. Daniel thinks of Pompeii, of Nagasaki, of twisted desiccated mummies in catacombs, but this isn't any of those things: it's Jack's dead body. He slides to his knees on the opposite side of the body from Teal'c, and as he does, he sees Jack's MP5. It's warped because all the rounds inside it have exploded with the sudden heat. He reaches for it reflexively but the metal's still too hot to touch.

"The-- Did the-- How did the--" Sam said the Stargate was acting up this morning, but she said it was safe. How could this have happened?

The air smells of charcoal and the faint scent of burned flesh. Jack is dead, and the _Goa'uld_ haven't killed him, nobody's killed him, it's a stupid Gate malfunction, and nobody should have to die this way, _nobody..._

Teal'c reaches down to turn Jack's body over, but the dry fried pieces just ... crumble ... and Daniel hears himself make a sound he doesn't want to hear. Then Teal'c is moving, standing, reaching out to lift Daniel to his feet as well.

"We must dial Earth at once, Daniel Jackson."

"I-- Teal'c-- What--?"

Teal'c shakes him roughly and he gasps.

"Daniel Jackson! We must dial Earth at once! I believe Stargate Command to be under attack!"

Teal'c drags him roughly down the steps to the DHD. Daniel's head is spinning with shock. Attack? Not a malfunction? He dials Earth by reflex. Sam set the Gate computers up with an answerback system a few months after the Program started that could ping the destination Gate and get its Point of Origin Glyph so he doesn't have to worry about finding that on any of the planets they visit any more; he had their return address before they left this morning and he dials it now. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...

No lock.

He waits for the light to fade in the DHD and tries again. He's numb inside. How can Jack be dead? How can the SGC be under attack? They left less than five minutes ago and everything was fine...

He keeps trying, mechanically, until Teal'c takes his hands -- gently this time -- and stops him.

The Stargate isn't working. And Jack is dead.

He looks into Teal'c's eyes, and knows that Teal'c has no more idea of what to do now than he does. What they were going to do when everything went wrong was always Jack's job. Or Sam's. She's Jack's Second in Command. Teal'c was First Prime to Apophis until they freed him. It's like being a general, except that the _Goa'uld_ don't allow their Jaffa that much independence. Teal'c commanded armies in the field, though. Led men into battle, led them to death in the name of a false god.

At the SGC, he's a sergeant. Tech Sergeant Teal'c, according to all the paperwork, so Jack and Sam both outrank...

Sam was back at the SGC when this happened.

A blast of energy killed Jack. It came through the open wormhole from Earth. From where Sam was. And now they can't get a lock on Earth. That means there's something wrong with the destination Gate. Not wrong as in 'the iris is closed,' and not wrong as in there's been a power failure at the SGC; neither of those things would interfere with the DHD getting a lock. Wrong as in _the Stargate might not be there._ He doesn't want to think that, but he can't stop himself.

He gestures at the DHD. "Teal'c, I... What do we do?"

"Is it not the custom among the _Tau'ri_ to bury the dead, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asks quietly.

He wants to shout, argue, insist that Jack isn't dead. That some miracle can save him. That this isn't happening. All he can do is nod.

#

He can only carry a few stones each trip. One time, when he comes back, Teal'c is gone. One time, when he comes back, Teal'c is filling the hole in again, and he helps, getting down on hands and knees to shovel the loose earth back in over what lies beneath, and when they're finished, the two of them walk back and forth across the earth, tamping it down, then lay the stones across it and walk across them again. There weren't enough for a cairn, but he found enough to make a top layer over the fresh-turned earth, to mark the grave.

When they're done, they go back to the Gate.

He reaches out and touches the dial of the DHD. Dial Home Device, only they can't, can they? Something terrible has happened at the SGC, and there's no way for them to get home and find out what's happened to their friends. He presses the seven symbols for Earth once more, and once more there's no lock. He closes his eyes in frustration and pounds his fist softly on the edge of the DHD.

He doesn't know what to do.

"The Stargate may yet serve to take us to another destination," Teal'c says.

"I... Do you think it still works at all?" He hadn't thought of trying to go somewhere else. He'd only been thinking about getting back to Earth.

"I do not know, Daniel Jackson. Nevertheless, I feel it would be prudent to make the attempt."

He looks at Teal'c, hesitating. What if the whole Gate system's down? The SGC doesn't really understand it, although they use it. What if the whole system's just ... exploded?

"Should we wait?" he asks hesitantly. "Maybe...?" If it's only a malfunction, they'll fix it.

He can't imagine a malfunction bad enough to have sent that burst of energy through the wormhole that would leave anyone alive behind it to fix it. Sam, General Hammond, Walter, Sgt. Siler ... he recruited Robert just a few weeks ago for AA&T is Robert still alive? Or is everyone in Stargate Command dead?

"If our enemies have taken possession of Stargate Command, once they have consolidated their position on Earth, they may seek us out," Teal'c answers. "I believe we have remained here as long as we dare."

Daniel nods. Teal'c's right. The two of them need to leave. He knows hundreds of Gate addresses; leaving isn't the problem, assuming the Stargate works. A destination is.

"The Land of Light," he says slowly. "Councilor Tuplo said we would always be welcome. And Drey'auc and Rya'c are there, aren't they?"

"Indeed," Teal'c agrees. His voice gives nothing away.

Daniel dials. His hands start to shake as he presses the glyphs. He doesn't know what would be worse: if the Stargate doesn't work or if it does.

Seventh symbol. And the Gate engages. Both of them simply stare at it for a moment, then Daniel walks slowly up the steps. There's no mark on the stones where Jack's body lay. No blood. Nothing.

The MALP is still there, but, like Jack's MP5 -- that's gone now; Teal'c must have buried it with Jack -- it's been fried. The side nearest the Gate is blackened; the treads have melted. All the glass in the panels is gone. Some of it is in tiny melted droplets on the stone. Other pieces were cool enough at the moment of explosion to shatter and retain their integrity. He touches the MALP, hesitantly. It's still hot.

For a moment longer he stands there, facing the shimmering pool of light. _We don't leave anyone behind._ Jack always said that. But they're leaving Jack behind now. For a moment Daniel's face twists with a grief he can no longer control. Jack would have wanted to be buried next to Charlie. He takes a deep breath and walks through the event horizon.

#

On the other side it's dark; he'd forgotten it would be. But torches burn beside the Gate, so there's light to see by. He remembers the last time he was here in the forest and can't quite suppress a wince at the memory, but it's different now. Now the path back to the Light Side is neatly kept, edged with lamps of glowing pale stone. The Mykene don't use glass for many things, but they work alabaster in the traditional fashion of the Ancient World.

Teal'c's symbiote will protect him from the histaminalytic virus here, and the SGC has taught the Mykene to refine an herbal cure from native plants, so not only is there no chance Daniel will devolve again, he won't have any allergic reactions to the local plants once his supply of antihistamines runs out. The shots Janet gives him are good for a week, and he has a few pills in his pack for emergencies. That's it.

He wonders if Janet is still alive. The infirmary is only a few levels above the Gate Room.

The two of them walk through the dark forest toward the Light Side, then up the hill toward the Palace. By the time they're close, Daniel can see Melosha on the steps, waving to them. He raises a hand in return, but he can't quite bring himself to wave back. The shock is starting to wear off, the way it did when Sha're was taken, and all he can see, in his mind, is a heap of charcoal in the shape of a man. Breaking. Crumbling. Death, alien and absolute.

#

High Councilor Tuplo and his wife Leedora greet the two of them with puzzled delight. After a moment, Tuplo asks them where Jack and Sam are.

Teal'c says they are not with them, then regards the Mykene court impassively. Tuplo waits for more, but when it becomes obvious that there isn't going to _be_ more, says he will send for Drey'auc and Rya'c.

While they're waiting for them, Daniel explains to Tuplo that he and Teal'c need to stay here for a while, if it's okay with the Mykene. Tuplo is delighted to have them as guests, and says they may stay as long as they wish. Daniel thanks Tuplo for his kindness; the words come automatically to him, as if someone else is speaking.

Rya'c is so happy to see his father again. He shows off the baseball glove that Jack gave him. Jack had been going to teach Rya'c baseball, but there'd never been time. Drey'auc is more suspicious about the reason for Teal'c's unannounced arrival. She obviously wants an immediate explanation for why they're here.

"Something," Daniel begins, knowing the explanation must be made, though it's an effort to speak, to keep his voice calm even and professional, "something may have happened on Earth. We aren't really sure. We were on a mission through the Stargate--" he knows that Tuplo's people are a little vague on the concept of 'planet' "--when there was an accident and we, um, well, we couldn't get home."

"What about the others who travel with you?" Drey'auc asks him sharply, her eyes flaring with suspicion. SG-1 rescued her and Rya'c from Chulak. The two of them spent time in the SGC afterward. She knows there should be four of them here now.

Daniel opens his mouth to answer, and he simply ... can't.

"Colonel O'Neill is dead. Captain Carter was at Stargate Command and her fate is unknown, as is the fate of the _Tau'ri_."

Daniel winces before he can help himself. _The fate of the_ Tau'ri _is unknown._ Tuplo looks puzzled, trying to figure this out, but if he's waiting for more information from Teal'c, he won't get it.

"Have your enemies followed you here?" Tuplo asks, after a moment.

"They have not," Teal'c says firmly.

Daniel wonders why Teal'c's so sure they have enemies. All he knows for sure is that something went wrong. But that's the way Teal'c and ... Jack ... always were. Always looking for enemies. Expecting them, when Daniel always hoped for friends.

"Husband, what will you do now?" Drey'auc asks.

"A wise warrior considers before he acts," Teal'c answers.

#

The sun never sets in the Land of Light. The sun never moves, actually, because the planet doesn't rotate. The entire habitable area of the planet is a belt of land about fifty miles wide that circles the entire planet at the equator. A little more of it is on the light side than the dark. Outside of that, the entire planet is desert where nothing lives. You can only see the stars from the forest.

Tuplo gave him a room in the Palace, and Daniel tried to sleep. He's so tired, even though it's only noon now in Colorado Springs, and he really wanted to be alone. But he couldn't sleep, though he still craves solitude, and so he's come back here to the forest to look at the stars. It would take Sam to tell him which one is home from here, and he thinks Sam may be dead.

Daniel stares up through the trees, focusing on the lights in the sky, trying not to remember the sights and sounds of the last few hours. How all that was left of Jack's body crumbled and broke like soft charcoal when Teal'c shifted it. How the small black flakes shimmered and sifted through Teal'c's fingertips and the intense burned scent made Daniel's nose itch.

He needs to stop thinking of anything at all, and so he looks at the stars. Teal'c has gone to Drey'auc's house. At least he has a family to return to. Daniel's family -- what's left of it -- is on Abydos, sealed behind a buried Gate. His closest friends are at Stargate Command and on SG-1. He doesn't know what's happened to them, and he has no way to get home.

He hugs himself tightly, trying to crush away the latest in the series of stunning losses that have defined his life. He's not a soldier; god knows he's gotten used to death since the first time he saw the suns in the sky of Abydos, but what he doesn't know is what to _do_ about it. He never really has.

Maybe he should just go back to Abydos and tell Kasuf he's failed. Except that the Abydos Gate is buried -- will be for most of another year -- and he can't get there.

He keeps trying to come up with a plan, something to _do,_ but all the plans he can come up with start with getting back to the SGC somehow. And he can't do that.

#

"Daniel Jackson."

He comes to with a gasp, flailing, and realizes he'd fallen asleep where he was, sitting on the ground in the forest. He's cold and stiff and he's knocked his glasses askew. He straightens them carefully. He broke them once before -- on Abydos -- and thought then that he'd never be able to get them fixed. This time it may be true.

Teal'c is standing over him, holding a lantern. He holds out a hand. Daniel takes it, and Teal'c draws him to his feet.

"Uh. Teal'c." His voice sounds rusty and his throat aches. "I'm sorry. I came out here to look at the stars and I fell asleep."

"It is most unwise to sleep in the forest. Since the departure of the Touched, I am told that many large forest creatures have become bold and importunate in their behavior."

Right now, being eaten by wolves sounds like an improvement.

"How did you find me?" he asks, in order to change the subject. He's nowhere near any of the forest paths.

"Councilor Tuplo informed me that you had mentioned wishing to go for a walk. It was a simple matter to follow your trail. Come."

They walk back out into the eternal day. When Daniel checks his watch, he realizes that despite the lying sun it's late at night back home. Almost tomorrow.

They should have been back from the mission hours ago. Jack would have taken them on a brisk five-mile hike, on a heading directly away from the Stargate, because if there were anything to see on PX8-925, it would probably have been built in line-of-sight of the Stargate. Jack would have complained about trees, and that he was bored, and about anything else he could think of, but he would never have stopped watching for trouble, and his hands would never have left his gun. They'd have come back. Debriefed. Daniel would have caught up on his paperwork, gone home. Maybe had dinner in the Commissary with Sam first, or maybe the two of them would have gotten take-out and gone back to Sam's place.

A normal ordinary day in his normal ordinary life.

There's a heaviness in his chest and a tightness in his throat. 'Normal' and 'ordinary' are gone forever, even if rescue comes. He thinks he's had one too many losses. How many friends can you lose before you don't want to have any more friends?

Jack was a good friend.

He stumbles, and Teal'c's hand is under his elbow to steady him. he looks up.

Teal'c rarely shows much emotion. It's not as if the Jaffa don't have them; it's that they're private things. Daniel hasn't gotten a lot of opportunities to study Jaffa culture -- and now, he realizes, he probably never will -- but he knows that anything the Jaffa display openly, their _Goa'uld_ overlords can use against them.

Jack called the Jaffa 'myrmidons' once and smirked in that way of his when Daniel looked surprised that he knew the word. Daniel had come to suspect that a lot of the 'dumb Colonel' act was just that: an act, though a very good one. And the word had fit. The _Goa'uld_ do their best to turn the Jaffa into insects. The Jaffa respond by living their lives behind a mask.

Eyes show behind masks.

Teal'c's eyes are on him now, filled with compassion. He's almost four times Daniel's age, victim of the _Goa'uld_ all his life. How many friends has he lost in his lifetime?

Daniel nods shortly. He's fine. He'll survive.

He's always survived.

"There is a Jaffa word that means 'revenge' in the _Tau'ri_ language. Do you know it?" Teal'c asks suddenly.

" _Kel'mar_ ," Daniel says. "You taught it to me."

"You know that it also means 'lifeblood,'" Teal'c says. "That is because, to the Jaffa, revenge is life. We will discover who has killed our brother O'Neill. And they will pay. This I promise you, Daniel Jackson. _Kel'mar_."

Daniel's breath hitches in his chest. He takes a deep breath and suddenly he's lightheaded. He blinks hard. His eyes are wet, but -- thank god -- it's not quite tears.

Revenge.

He's tried so hard not to hate anybody. He thinks of Chulak; of the tank of _Goa'uld_ larva exploding in a hail of bullets; thinks of how he felt in that moment, the gun hot in his hands.

He doesn't want to be that person again.

"Teal'c," he says. "We can't... become the _Goa'uld_. No matter what it costs us."

Teal'c continues to regard him silently.

"I will take you to where you may rest," Teal'c says at last.

Later Daniel will remember that moment and wonder if there was anything different he could have said. Something that would have changed things.

#

It's almost a month later when Teal'c disappears. The Mykene have an elaborate and accurate system of clocks -- the Ancient Egyptians did, too, so it's not that surprising -- and mark the passage of the day with horns and gongs. The unceasing noontide in which the Land of Light exists is driving both him and Teal'c slowly mad, Daniel thinks.

At first he dialed out on the DHD twice a day. Then once a day. Now it's every third day. He never gets a lock.

He went back to PX8-925 once to leave a note for the SGC, just in case anyone came looking for them there. It was safe enough even if someone else found it: nobody outside the SGC is going to know where _'that place where Jack and I got turned into cavemen'_ is. He only stayed long enough to tape the page from his field journal to the DHD with the duct tape he always carries and dial back. He doesn't believe in ghosts, but 925 is haunted.

Haunted by disaster.

And the worst of it is, he doesn't know what's happened and maybe he never will. He's talked about it with Teal'c. Jack always said there was a Plan B. Daniel takes its existence on faith, but he can't seem to figure out what it is.

His life has become a matter of surviving each twenty-four hour period. He spends a lot of time in the Mykenesian archives; he finally has all the time he's ever wanted to study this culture. Is knowledge useless when there's nobody to share it with?

When he isn't in the archives, he works in the fields. It's something to do. The Mykene's Cretan ancestors imported much of their grain; they grew barley and grapes on Crete, they had sheep and goats and cattle. The Mykene have wheat in addition to barley, and they also grow flax. Both wheat and flax require extensive irrigation; Daniel has suggested improvements to the system of canals and waterwheels that irrigate the step-terraces. Terrace farming is Meso-American or Chinese, not Cretan; the farming system looks more Asian than anything else. It's an interesting cross-pollenization, but there's nobody left to care.

He's adapted before, called another world his home, but it was his choice before. This time it's an exile. He tries to make the best of it, but Daniel feels as if he's been imprisoned. Imprisoned in Paradise.

But this Paradise has a serpent.

He's been analyzing the Mykene culture. He can't help it. Analyzing cultures its what Daniel does; it's as natural to him as breathing; he reads cultures as easily as he can read a page of print in any of twenty-three languages, living and dead. And the Mykene have a problem, one the SGC created by helping them.

It's unfair. They couldn't _not_ have helped them. But helping them has created another problem, because the histaminalytic virus that the SGC helped them find a cure for apparently kept their population down. Without that bizarre and horrible form of population control -- Leedora has told him that none of the Touched ever bore or fathered children that she knows of, and about a third of the population fell to the Touched virus every year -- the Mykene are facing what amounts to a population explosion, and the Land of Light just isn't that big. In a few generations they'll be facing a Malthusian nightmare.

He wants resources he doesn't have. If Janet were here, she could explain about birth control. If Sam were here, she could improve their farming technology to buy them more time. If Jack were here, he could ... be Jack. Explain to Tuplo (Daniel has tried, and failed) that the Mykene need to consider the possibility of relocating elsewhere. He's suggested Argos. The two cultures are similar enough, and the whole planet's available. And safe.

But what Daniel wants most of all, on the day he hikes down from the palace (where he's living) to Drey'auc's house in the town, is to know where Teal'c went and why he didn't tell him he was going.

All Drey'auc can tell him is that Teal'c left that 'morning.' Drey'auc knows that Teal'c took his staff weapon, but went dressed in native robes; that's disturbing, as Daniel has mostly been wearing the local clothing but Teal'c hasn't.

Daniel looks for Teal'c at several places in the town and the surrounding fields, already knowing it will be useless, before he goes to the Stargate. There's nothing there -- no clue to where Teal'c went -- but he's pretty sure by now that Teal'c went somewhere through the Stargate, and Daniel can't imagine any place that Teal'c would go alone. Teal'c is his friend.

His last surviving teammate, if Sam is dead, and Daniel thinks she must be, or else she would have come for him by now. Somehow. They always came back for each other. When Jack was on Argos. When Daniel was here.

Where did Teal'c go? And why?

Daniel dials Earth again.

No lock.

No Gate. Or buried Gate. And either way, a disaster of epic proportions and he'll never know just what happened because to know he'd have to be on Earth. And since Earth apparently no longer has a working Stargate, that would take a spaceship and a pilot who could find Earth.

He walks away from the Gate. He wishes he were willing to allow himself the fantasy that Jack is here, alive, just behind him in the forest, that he could ask Jack what the hell is going on and what to do. Not because he can't take care of himself; he's a better survivor than Jack thinks.

Thought.

But because Jack has a certain perspective that Daniel knows he lacks, particularly on Teal'c. Jack understood Teal'c in a way Daniel knows he never will. Sometimes they thought the same way. Jack would know what Teal'c was thinking now.

_Daniel. You're stranded in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of people in funny hats. What do you have and what do you need?_

He stops. For a moment he wonders if he's starting to hallucinate, but no. Just remembering. Jack would always ask him these kinds of stupid questions, nagging him, telling Daniel he had to learn how to _think._

To think Jack's way, was what he meant.

And now -- when it's much too late -- Daniel wishes he'd listened just a little more, because no matter how many times they'd almost lost Jack -- Abydos, Chulak, Argos, Cimmeria, half a dozen other places -- he'd never believed it could actually _happen._

_What do you have and what do you need?_

He has a Stargate that will go anywhere in the Gate Network but Earth. To get to Earth -- to find out what has happened there -- will take a spaceship.

He and Teal'c need a spaceship to get to Earth.

Where do you go when you need a spaceship?

Teal'c has gone to Chulak.

#

He wants to follow Teal'c immediately, and knows he doesn't dare. He's been to Chulak twice. The first time SG-1 just walked right in -- that was before the _Goa'uld_ knew what kind of a threat the _Tau'ri_ could be. The second time they sneaked in disguised as members of the priesthood of Apophis, and because of that the Chulak Gate is guarded all the time now. Daniel speaks fluent _Goa'uld_ , but he's not completely certain he can bluff his way past the guards at the Gate.

Still, he has to try.

#

He goes back to the Palace and puts on his uniform. It seems strange to wear it again after so many days, but it's cold on Chulak and he's not running off to rescue Teal'c wearing a Mykenesian kilt and a pair of sandals. The cloak Tuplo gave him for walking in the forest will cover most of it; for the rest he'll just have to trust to luck and the fact that whoever's at the Gate won't expect a _Tau'ri_ to come through speaking _Goa'uld_. He can tell them he comes with a message from Ra, if anyone asks. The _Goa'uld_ play at being gods: Apophis may know that Ra is dead, but Daniel's betting he hasn't told the rank and file.

Rank and file. Kipling. Jack would quote Kipling to him at odd moments. Another surprise.

_'They're hanging Danny Deever in the morning...'_

Teal'c already has most of a day's head start on him; he only hopes Teal'c's still alive. Daniel bundles the cloak up under one arm and heads back to the Stargate. By now he knows the Palace well enough that he's able to slip out unobserved and make his way to the forest without meeting anybody. He just doesn't want to have to explain.

He goes through clutching his gun, his cloak pulled tightly around him, but even though it's full day when he steps out through the Chulak Gate, there's nobody in sight.

#

He takes a deep breath of relief, settling his gun back into its holster, and wonders where everyone is. Where Teal'c is, for that matter. It occurs to him that if Teal'c _has_ stolen a spaceship, he's going to be flying it somewhere, maybe even back to the Land of Light -- it certainly won't fit through the Stargate -- but in that case why didn't he tell Daniel what he was going to do? Didn't he think Daniel would notice he was gone, and follow him?

Teal'c is his friend, but it occurs to Daniel that he doesn't really understand him.

Still, he's here now, and Teal'c might be here too, and in trouble. He needs to know. He hesitates, looking up the deserted roadway. He knows the route to the city; it's about three miles. Thanks to Master Bra'tac, he also knows a back way there. If he cuts through the forest and follows the river, he can come up on the village through the refugee camps on the south.

#

It's a long slow hike to the camp -- about twice the distance it would be to the city by road. He stops as soon as he's off the trail to stash his cloak in his pack and put on his glasses. If anybody sees him he's in trouble anyway, and he needs to be able to see.

It's evening when he gets to where he remembers the refugee camp being -- the Jaffa have their social castoffs, just like any other society -- but it isn't there.

He takes cover and looks around. He knows the camp should be here. He was never at the site, but it was described in the mission reports. It was a big place, along the bank of the river, and visible from the city. He can see the city and the river, so he should be able to see the camp.

No camp.

But after a few minutes in hiding, watching, he can see that it _was_ here at one point. Teal'c may have been their tracker, but Daniel is an archaeologist. The signs of habitation will always be clear to him.

Okay. The camp is gone. And he needs to get into the city. Not only to find Teal'c, but because it's starting to get dark and he'll never survive a night out in the open with nothing more than a cloak; they didn't bring overnight gear on their last mission, so even though he has his pack with him, he has none now. He'd been hoping to pick up some gossip at the camp -- by eavesdropping if nothing else -- but now that's out. And there's one person in the city who can help him find Teal'c.

#

It's after dark by the time he can actually get to Master Bra'tac's house. The streets are deserted and the houses are dark, and if Daniel didn't hear quiet voices coming from behind the shutters of one or two of the buildings, he'd really start to believe that he was completely alone here on Chulak. As it is, it's pretty clear that something big is going on.

Considering that Chulak is Apophis's stronghold, that really doesn't make him feel very good.

He reaches Master Bra'tac's door. The house is as dark as all the rest. He taps quietly at the door, but there's no answer, and the door is locked. He could shoot open the door, he supposes, but that's no way to stay undetected. He doesn't dare stay on the street long; he's the only one out here.

He goes around the side of the house and down the alley. As he remembered, there's a back door. It's locked too, but there are windows above, and they only have shutters.

The climb is a nightmare -- he's terrified of heights -- and when he gets there, the shutters on the window are barred. But Chulak is a primitive world -- it's bizarre; the Jaffa fly around in spaceships and fight with energy weapons and live in homes out of the Early Middle Ages -- and the shutters aren't locked, only barred from inside. He pulls out his knife and uses it to lift the bar holding the shutters closed. Housebreaking; Sam would be proud. Clinging to the wall and the sill, Daniel swings the shutter out and gets himself inside and closes the shutter again -- and bars it -- all within a matter of minutes.

Jack would be proud of him, too.

Of course, then he's in a pitch-dark room. He pulls the flashlight out of his pack and shines it around the room. Jaffa don't sleep, but they _kel'no'reem._ This room is set up for that; cushions on the floor and candles everywhere. He stands and listens, but he hears nothing. If Master Bra'tac were here, he would have heard him.

"It's Daniel," he whispers, just in case Bra'tac is waiting outside the door to hit him. "Teal'c's friend. From Earth."

Nothing. The house is empty.

Flashlight in hand, he explores the house.

Everything is shut up, as if Bra'tac expected to be gone for a very long time. The proof is the fact that the kitchen is completely empty of food. There's a pump and a sink, though, and the pump still works. Daniel washes his face and hands and drinks from a trophy cup that looks as if it's solid gold, then eats one of his Powerbars, stuffing the wrapper neatly back into his pack when he's done.

Where the hell is everybody? And if they're all gone -- all the Serpent Guards, anyway, and Master Bra'tac -- where is Teal'c? Isn't this the first place Teal'c would come?

Well, obviously not. Or if he did, he knew how to lock the front door behind him when he left.

Daniel paces through the deserted rooms, poking through chests and cupboards. He realizes he'd been counting on too much -- on finding Teal'c, on finding Bra'tac. On finding someone who could tell him what was going on, and give him some idea of what to do next.

_If Teal'c is here -- and has been captured -- they'll take him to the Palace._

He's scared; he's willing to admit that. This is enemy territory, and there's no backup, and no hope of rescue. And if he wants to know where Teal'c is, he needs to go back out onto the streets. Going out by the alley door will be safest, and he can risk leaving it unlocked. He has no way to lock it, anyway.

#

He approaches the Palace cautiously, realizing as he does that he has _absolutely no idea of how to get in._ The first time the Gate Priesthood escorted them right inside. The second time they never came near it.

He doesn't see any Serpent Guards, though torches burn on the Palace steps.

That's odd. The _Goa'uld_ are constantly at war with each other. Ra and Apophis were enemies. Would a _Goa'uld_ leave his throneworld undefended?

Or maybe the real question is: _why_ would a _Goa'uld_ leave his throneworld undefended?

Serpent Guards or not, trying to walk in the front door is probably not a good idea.

He'll circle around the back. Maybe there are gardens that he can sneak in through. Do the _Goa'uld_ have gardens? He's about to find out.

He wishes there were newspapers on Chulak, something that would tell him what's going on. It's only about an hour after sunset, and the only places showing any lights at all are the Palace and another smaller structure most of the way up the hill behind it. It wasn't this way the last time they were on Chulak. The whole town was lit by torches and lanterns, but he's seen no sign of them this time.

His breath smokes on the night air as he makes a wide circle around the Palace, heading for the back. Maybe they don't guard the place at night because it's so cold. He's almost convinced himself of that when he nearly runs right into a patrol.

#

They aren't Serpent Guards, and that's what saves his life. They're making enough noise that he hears them long before they approach. He throws himself flat and they walk right past him.

Six Jaffa women. Five are carrying staff-weapons. One is carrying a lantern on a pole. They're all wearing boots and trousers and chain-mail shirts with sashes across them.

They're talking about the war. How it will be a glorious victory for the god Apophis and Prince Klorel and will gain them much new territory. How, perhaps, many of the warriors who serve them can gain enough honor in the fighting to be granted wives. They laugh and tease one another as they pass.

Daniel lies perfectly still, heart hammering, until the sound of their footsteps and their laughter has faded.

Apophis -- and Klorel -- have gone to war.

With who?

Does it matter? _Not really,_ Daniel admits to himself. Except that it means that Apophis isn't here.

And Sha're might be.

#

"My Dan'yel."

The voice is Sha're's. He opens his eyes, blearily. His head hurts.

Amaunet smiles. "You have come back to me, my Dan'yel."

It's not his wife's face. It's cruel, hard.

He's chained to a wall.

"I'm not your 'Dan'yel,'" he says.

"But you are," she says. The _Goa'uld_ harmonic is in her voice now, and her eyes flash white. "You are the last of the _Tau'ri_ , and I will cherish you."

He shakes his head. It only makes his headache worse.

He'd gotten into the Palace easily. Most of it had been deserted. He'd found the dungeons easily; they hadn't even been guarded, and no wonder: they'd been empty.

He hadn't meant to go looking for Sha're. Not really. Thor's Hammer has been broken, and that's her only chance of being freed of Amaunet. But what if the Asgard had come back and fixed it? If he could capture her, take her there and see...

In the end it didn't matter. He'd run into Amaunet on his way back to the upper levels of the Palace. She'd been surrounded by Serpent Guards--

_\--oh, so that's where they all are--_

\--and raised her hand and struck him in the face with a beam of light. He'd begged Sha're to stop her, but it hadn't done any good.

And now he's here. It looks like her bedroom. He doesn’t want to think about why Amaunet has a way to shackle people to the wall in her bedroom.

"Tell me, Dan'yel, how did you survive?" Amaunet asks. She puts a hand on his chest. Sha're's hand.

"Don't touch me!" he shouts, struggling against the chains.

She reaches out her hand, never looking away from him, and one of the armored Jaffa standing by hands her something. It looks like a crowbar. She touches him with it, and the pain is worse than anything he could imagine, worse than her hand device. He screams.

"Tell me," she says again. "I can cause the host such pain as this," she adds, watching him.

Sha're.

"I don't know what you want to know!" he says desperately. "Survived? Survived what?"

"The destruction of the _Tau'ri_ ," Amaunet says. "The destruction of Earth."

"No," Daniel says. But he's terrified that it's true. "You can't have destroyed Earth. You _can't._ "

Amaunet raises the stick again, but lowers it before using it. "The host has many memories of you, Dan'yel. She cherishes every moment you spent together, all that you told her of Earth -- and you told her so much. Her memories were very useful to my lord Apophis when it became necessary to him to convince the System Lords that the _Tau'ri_ were a threat requiring our alliance. She knew -- you told her -- that the _Tau'ri_ could offer no resistance to the combined fleets of the System Lords. Even now, your homeworld is no more than a lifeless cinder. Your people will kill no more gods, make no more _shol'va._ Because of you -- and Sha're."

"No! Don't listen to her! I know you can hear me! Sha're! I love you! _Sha're!_ "

Amaunet snarls in fury. She flings down the stick and raises the hand covered with the jeweled glove again. The light knocks Daniel's head back against the wall, and his last conscious thought is that he hopes she's going to kill him now.

_Sha're..._

#

He doesn't know how much time has passed when he awakens. He's now the sole occupant of the dungeon, and morning light is filtering in through the high windows. His head hurts so much he can't quite force his eyes open. With a little work he manages to roll onto his knees and throw up.

Knowing what he knows hurts worse than what Amaunet has done to him. After Chulak, Apophis tried to attack Earth through the Stargate for days, then stopped. He must have thought he'd destroyed them, until he ran into SG-1 on the Nox homeworld. But he never tried to attack the Earth Stargate again. He must have realized it was useless.

He's found another way.

Daniel spent a year of happiness on Abydos with Sha're. He talked to her -- of course he did; she was his _wife._ She was endlessly curious about the life her husband had led before he came to live among her people. He'd told her everything he knew. All the history of Earth, everything about his life. She'd asked so many questions. About his wristwatch. His ballpoint pen. Skaara's lighter. It had made him understand how little he knew about his own culture. He'd cudgeled his mind for scraps of information, trying to make Earth real for her: cars, airplanes, movies. Telling her that it wasn't magic, it was science.

Amaunet turned everything he told Sha're into a weapon.

He crawls into a corner of the dungeon and weeps.

A few hours later -- he still has his wristwatch, for some reason, though his pack, his vest, and his glasses are gone -- he hears the rattle of armored boots on stone. Guards coming to drag him out for another round of torture, he supposes.

It's only one. The Serpent Guard opens the gate and stands on the stone steps.

"Go away," Daniel says. "Or come in. I don't care."

The Serpent Guard advances down the steps and crosses the floor. He stands over Daniel, and the red-eyed helmet regards Daniel anonymously. Daniel wonders what he's waiting for.

Then the helmet folds back.

"We must go at once, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c says. "Soon the absence of the guards will be noticed. There is not much time."

Daniel stares up at Teal'c. If he didn't hurt so much, he thinks, he could manage to be surprised. "Teal'c?" he croaks. "I was supposed to rescue you."

"Come," Teal'c says urgently, sliding the Serpent-helmet into place again.

#

They hurry from the dungeon. Daniel moves as quickly as he can, but everything aches, and he keeps stumbling. At one point Teal'c drags him into a room and rummages through chests, pulling out a long hooded cloak and thrusting it at him. It's gold, and it glitters, and Daniel knows it belongs to the _Goa'uld_. He shudders and drops it. He can't help himself.

"Teal'c. I saw Sha're. Amaunet. She said--"

"There is no time, Daniel Jackson."

Teal'c's voice sounds strained. It echoes hollowly within the enclosing helmet, and the fear in it galvanizes Daniel. He knows that Teal'c isn't afraid for himself, but for him. He picks up the cloak and manages to get it on this time, pulling the hood forward over his face. Teal'c goes to the door, checking the corridor. Whatever he sees satisfies him, and they go on.

It's nearly noon. The suns are high overhead. The day is bright and cool and smells of pine, and he thinks of that other day, a month ago, that day just before the world ended. The Palace steps are deserted, and the two of them walk down them slowly, Teal'c moving as if he has every right to be here, and Daniel follows, clutching the billowing glittering cloak around him and hoping that nobody they meet will notice his boots. He expects at any moment to hear shouts, staff-blasts, to be called back.

But they make their escape unhindered.

"How did you know where to find me?" he asks, when they're outside the city.

"Word was brought to the Temple that a mature symbiote would be needed for an implantation," Teal'c says. "The False God Mehen was most pleased to tell Shau'nac that the last of the _Tau'ri_ was to become one of them." The Serpent-helmet turns toward him, its red eyes unblinking. "You are indeed fortunate that Shau'nac chose to inform me."

"I, ah, I... You were in the, ah, Temple?" His head still hurts, but the walk is taking care of the stiffness. Daniel still feels lightheaded and nauseated, though. Even more now that he knows what was about to happen to him.

"I went there immediately upon my arrival. I have known Shau'nac for many years, and I knew that she would conceal my presence here. She was most willing to inform me of Apophis's recent activities, in hopes I would repent and seek his forgiveness at this proof of his power." Teal'c's voice is without inflection.

"Then you know," Daniel's voice is equally flat.

"I am very sorry, Daniel Jackson."

"They destroyed-- They destroyed Earth! It's gone! They've won!"

"They have not won while we yet live. I do not doubt that Apophis's enemies have betrayed him the moment victory was achieved. Their alliance was a fragile one, easily shattered once the moment of victory has passed. Even now they will be fighting among themselves."

_What good does that do Earth?_ Daniel thinks bitterly. But there are more worlds than Earth in the universe.

Abydos.

If the _Goa'uld_ can be defeated, Abydos still has a chance.

#

When they reach the Stargate, Teal'c retracts the hood of the serpent armor. It's safe for him to show his face now. The area's still deserted and Teal'c is armed.

Daniel steps to the DHD and begins to dial. In a few moments they'll be back and safe in the Land of Light. All he wants to do right now is sleep for a week. Then the two of them can figure out what to do next.

"Tell Drey'auc and Rya'c that I shall always hold them within my heart," Teal'c says. "Tell them to be strong."

"I, um, what?" Daniel says, pausing in mid-dial. "Aren't you going to... tell them yourself?"

"Our paths now diverge, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c says. "O'Neill my brother is dead at the hands of Apophis. Only _kel'mar_ remains." His eyes burn into Daniel's, and Daniel sees something he missed before, though all the clues were there.

Teal'c isn't quite sane any longer.

"Teal'c, you can't be serious! You have a wife, a child! We need to discuss--"

"Drey'auc will understand what I must do. I fight now for her, and for all Jaffa. Even though I am known to be _shol'va_ to Apophis, I am privy to many of his secrets, and may yet trade them for my life. Rising in the ranks of service to another _Goa'uld_ , I shall do as Master Bra'tac has done, and sow dissent among the Jaffa from within. With the destruction of the _Tau'ri_ , this is the only hope of freedom for the Jaffa, and of vengeance for O'Neill."

"Jack wouldn't want-- They'll kill you!"

"If I die, I die free. And we two shall be avenged. Go now."

"I am not letting you do this," Daniel says through gritted teeth. He turns away from the DHD. He has no illusions about his ability to take Teal'c in a fight, but it's words that have always been his weapons. He's sure he can make Teal'c listen. Understand that this is not the way.

Teal'c raises his hand. He's holding some sort of weapon that Daniel has never seen before, and for one horrified moment Daniel is certain that Teal'c is going to kill him.

There's a flash of light. It's the last thing Daniel sees.

#

He wakes up, aching all over again, on the ground beside the Stargate in the Land of Light.

Teal'c isn't there.

He rips off the _Goa'uld_ cloak and throws it as far away from him as he can, then just lies there, pounding his fist slowly against the ground in frustration. Teal'c has gone off to take on the entire _Goa'uld_ Empire by himself, and this time Daniel knows he won't be able to find him and bring him back again. At last he sits up, groaning. His headache has come back full--force, and every muscle hurts as if ... well, he's not sure what to compare it to.

He's lost all of them now.

Eventually he gets up and goes to give Drey'auc Teal'c's last message.

#

He stays in the Land of Light for another week before he realizes that he simply can't bear to stay here for the rest of his life. He told Teal'c he didn't want to become like the _Goa'uld_ , but that was before he knew they'd destroyed Earth.

He still doesn't want to become like the _Goa'uld_ , but maybe, somewhere, out there, he can find a way to fight them. There has to be something he can save out of all of this.

Because as bad as everything was out there in the Galaxy, it's worse now. The _Goa'uld_ have formed an alliance to reduce Earth to a radioactive cinder -- something too enormous and horrible for him to think about; his mind keeps sliding around it the way it slid around the fact of his parents' death -- but after that, as Teal'c said, they'll fight among themselves. And as they fight, they'll go after each others' territory.

If Apophis had kept Ra's death secret before, he would have had to tell the others about it to get them to attack Earth. So now Ra's domain -- all the worlds he controlled -- is up for grabs, and all of them know it. Eventually someone will go to Abydos by ship, to enslave Daniel's friends and what's left of his family once more. They'll unseal the Stargate when they get there.

The Abydans won't accept the rule of another 'god' so readily. For five thousand years they worshipped the _Goa'uld_ Ra, thinking he was a god, until he and Jack and Kawalsky and Ferreti and the others had freed them from their enslavement. They know the gods who come from the stars in golden pyramids are false. They'll say so, and die for speaking the truth.

He needs to find weapons and go to Abydos as soon as he can get there. He can help them protect their planet, but that's only the beginning. If even Apophis's First Prime was willing to turn against the _Goa'uld_ \-- and Teal'c was -- then others must be, too. They'll fight. All of them will fight.

But they need weapons. Knowledge. Somewhere through the Stargate there must be the knowledge that can save them all.

He knows hundreds of Gate addresses -- all the ones in the Abydos Cartouche Room, just to begin with. He even knows SG-1's next ten projected mission destinations. It's a place to start, before he goes on to randomly dialing addresses. At least he's fairly sure he can survive on those ten worlds.

Teal'c left all his SGC gear behind, which is good, as most of Daniel's is gone now. Even laced down as tight as it will go, Teal'c's vest hangs on him, and of course Teal'c never carried a gun. At least he has a knife, a pack, MREs, grenades. He misses his pens, his journals, his duct tape.

He misses his glasses most of all. He'll never be able to replace them.

Tuplo tries to talk him out of going, and when he can't, he and his family press additional gifts upon Daniel. Extra food supplies. A bedroll. A supply of their antihistamine cordial.

"Die well," Drey'auc says to him, when she tells him goodbye at the Gate. Daniel wonders how many times she said that to Teal'c.

"You and Rya'c live well," he answers.

Someone should.

#

When he steps through the Gate -- really alone at last -- he automatically looks behind him for Jack and Sam -- new world, a mission of sorts, it's a reflex. They aren't there, and their absence is like a physical blow.

At least now he knows what happened that day. The _Goa'uld_ fleet must have appeared right on top of The Mountain and opened fire. The SGC and the Stargate was probably their first target.

He wonders how long it took for Earth to die. Hours? Days? Nothing they had on Earth could have made a dent in a _Goa'uld_ ship in orbit. He and Jack had only managed to take out Ra on Abydos because they'd ringed the bomb up inside Ra's ship.

Would everything be better now if Jack had just moved his ass a little faster that day? If he were alive now? Could he have talked Teal'c out of his one-man (one-Jaffa) crusade? _Probably,_ Daniel thinks miserably. It's hard not to feel as if he's responsible for Teal'c's death, too, though he tries. _I should have tried harder to talk him out of it._

But he can't imagine what he would have said. He knows exactly what Jack would have said. _'There's a better way.'_ And for Jack, it would have worked.

It keeps coming back to Jack at the end of the world, and Daniel hates that, he won't live like that. He won't live in the past, in a world where the dead are alive. He tried it once, and it didn't work. When his parents died, he disavowed ghosts, and angels, and an unreal heaven of happy endings. If the world is bleak, then at least it's real.

He only hopes he can manage to live in reality.

#

The first planet has nothing but grass and trees. It takes him several hours to be sure of that, without a MALP to help him, but there's nothing anywhere within four hours' walk of the Gate. No sign of civilization at all.

It's still early. Afternoon. He goes on to the second planet on his list.

It's early morning there. By his watch, he left the Land of Light in the early morning, arrived on the first planet at its midday and left in its late afternoon; its days must be longer than Earth's. Now it's morning again, though by his watch, the day is drawing to a close. There's a village on the second planet. The people are primitive, as on so many worlds SG-1 has visited. Abducted-or-resettled, as usual, from somewhere in the Mediterranean/Fertile Crescent area; Greek this time, he thinks. There are only a few Northern European transplants that they've seen. No New World cultures at all. It can't be that they're too primitive, considering the level of civilization the _Goa'uld_ allow their victims to achieve. The _Goa'uld_ must have had some other selection criterion.

He gets the villagers to talk to him, asks the questions he's asked on a dozen worlds: _do you know the_ Goa'uld _? How long has it been since they've been here?_

He's in the domain of the god Ares, apparently. Ares isn't here right now, but he'll be back in the time of the Red Moon. Ares takes his tribute in mined and refined _naquaadah_ , and, every seventh year, he takes seven youths and seven maidens as additional tribute. They never return.

The refinery is primitive and life-destroying, its heat and gasses shortening lives. The mines are worse, but the people labor in them without complaint. It is all for the greater glory of the god Ares, Daniel is told.

The chief is happy to show him around, but Daniel's cautious questioning convinces him that there's no way he's going to be able to change their minds about Ares' divinity. He keeps trying, though, as tactfully as he can, until the chief, equally tactfully, suggests that it is time for him to leave.

By then it's local noon -- well into evening by his watch. He Gates back to PX8-925. Ghoulish, he supposes, to come here. But at least he knows it's safe. It's dusk when he arrives. He thinks of making camp at the foot of the Stargate, but he finds he can't bear to. He ends up going back to Jack's grave.

There's no point, really. Jack isn't here. But this grave is at least a destination, a fixed compass point in a universe that has lost all meaning, and he needs that. In a way, this is all that's left of Earth: a grave under alien stars.

_Welcome home,_ the fiction of Jack says in his mind, and the voice he hears holds all Jack's tired bitterness. The Stargate Program was supposed to get the weapons to defeat the _Goa'uld_ , and they failed. Weapons were always what Jack was after, though Daniel constantly told him that weapons had never saved a culture from destruction yet, though they'd destroyed many. And now Daniel is looking for weapons. He thinks that would amuse Jack greatly, if only Jack were alive to see it.

He's too tired to eat, but he makes coffee. It will be gone soon. He missed coffee on Abydos.

#

His dreams are unsettled. He's in the SGC. Jack is shouting at him, but Jack's voice is faint, and he can't hear. For some reason, Jack is yelling about dishes.

_Accretion disk._

Suddenly Daniel is sitting upright, wide awake. _Accretion disk._

SG-1 wasn't the only team offworld that day. He doesn't know where all the others were, but he knows where one was. P8X-987; a long-term mission for astronomical observation. The natives called the planet Hanka. He doesn't know why it took him this long to remember. Jack would have thought of this at once. He packs up quickly and hurries back to the Gate.

It's a few hours earlier on Hanka than it is on PX8-925. The sun is just rising as he walks down the steps of the Hankan Gate. He doesn't see the bodies at first. He smells them.

It's a charnel reek; too many bodies left unburied for too long. The scent of apocalypse, carried across fields ripe with unfamiliar grain. He advances down the road, peering carefully ahead of him. _Goa'uld_? he wonders, but there would be no reason for the _Goa'uld_ to kill everyone this way. They'd just blow the place up.

Everyone he sees is dead, and as he stops to stare at the rotting and half-eaten bodies tumbled in ditches and across the road -- dead where they've fallen -- he realizes he won't find SG-7 alive. This looks like plague. Whatever killed SG-7 and the Hankans killed fast: he knows that because SG-7 didn't even have time to get back to the Gate; their bodies weren't there, or even a message warning people off. And suddenly he realizes that he needs to leave. Now. Every moment he stays increases his own chances of exposure to whatever killed the Hankans. He runs back to the Stargate and hurries through. On the other side he sits on the steps, shaking, and scrubs every inch of his exposed skin with anti-bacterial wipes.

If that's not enough, he's dead.

#

He makes coffee again -- this is the last. He tore open an MRE to get it, and realizes that he has no idea what's in the MRE, because he can no longer read the words printed on the wrapper. He closes his eyes and rubs at them angrily. Everybody on Earth is dead and he's crying because Amaunet broke his glasses.

But he'll never be able to read a book again.

Fortunately his distance vision is still good. That's something. The thought of being truly blind -- helpless -- is frightening.

He wants to move on, but he's been exposed to whatever killed the Hankans, and he won't risk carrying that with him. If he's been exposed, he'll start showing symptoms soon. A short period of isolation should tell him if he's safe. Or if he's going to die.

Nothing he can do about that one way or the other; Teal'c doesn’t even carry aspirin in his pack.

Think about something else.

There are -- there were -- over a dozen SG teams by now, and at least a third of them were usually offworld, some of them for days, even weeks, at a time. But he doesn't know which ones were offworld that day. There's no central rendezvous point out here, either. He supposes there should be. Before he can stop himself, Daniel thinks he should mention that to Jack the next time he sees him, and draws a long shuddering breath.

He can't fall apart now. Or yet. Or already. He's been alone before.

Not like this.

If there are other Teams out here, they're trapped, too. They've either stayed where they were, or tried to move on, depending on what Gate addresses they know. Barring a miracle, he'll never find them.

He stays on PX8-925 for another 24 hours. He doesn't develop any symptoms, though he's not sure he'd recognize any symptoms other than death. After that, he's pretty sure it's safe to move on.

If it's not -- if he's a carrier -- there's no way to know.

#

The next two planets on his list are deserted. No people, no sign that there were ever people here. It takes him most of a day to decide that, and even so, he has the nagging feeling he still might be missing something. There's no way to be absolutely certain without technology he no longer has, and -- even if he had it -- someone who could interpret the MALP's readings.

Sam.

But Sam is dead and Earth is gone and thinking about it is going to drive him as crazy as Teal'c was in the end.

He moves on.

On the next planet there are people at last; a village right at the base of the Gate. He meets a man called Hanno. Hanno asks him who he is, and why he's here. Daniel tells him he's an explorer traveling through the Stargate. Hanno tells him that the _Goa'uld_ frequently come to his world to take slaves, but when they do, his people hide. Daniel is welcome to hide with them if the _Goa'uld_ come while he is here. Daniel tells Hanno that the _Goa'uld_ destroyed his homeworld while he was away.

Hanno is sorry, but he sounds neither shocked nor surprised. His village is a small one, and though he tells Daniel that there are other villages on this planet -- all clustered near the Stargate, of course -- the entire planetary population is undoubtedly less than that of Colorado Springs. But even if Hanno could imagine the billions of lives that have been lost in the destruction of Earth, it wouldn't impress him. Such obliteration is a fact of life in a galaxy dominated by the _Goa'uld_.

Daniel takes shelter with Hanno and his people for the night. Hanno tells Daniel about his father, killed by Jaffa in the service of a _Goa'uld_. He traces the Jaffa-mark for Daniel in the dust of the floor. Apophis. Daniel tells Hanno that his wife and her brother were taken to be used as hosts by Apophis. Hanno nods. They share a common bond.

He stays with Hanno's people for a day or two, but Hanno's people have no interest in rebellion. Hanno's people fight back in the only way they can: by hiding. It's not enough for Daniel. The next morning, he says his farewells.

At the DHD he hesitates before dialing the next address on his list, and dials Abydos instead.

No lock.

He breaths a deep sigh of --relief? --dismay? Relief, he decides, because if the _Goa'uld_ had reached Abydos, the first thing they would have done would be to unbury the Stargate.

So Abydos is still safe.

There's still time.

He dials his next destination.

He steps through the Gate onto the sands of a rare desert world. The Stargate platform is half buried in sand as fine as sugar and as white as snow that stretches as far as the eye can see. The air shimmers in the heat; the temperature near the sand is at least 200 degrees and the sky is bleached to whiteness by a sun that seems blue-white -- not yellow -- in the sky. He looks around and steps quickly to the DHD to dial again. This place could kill him in an hour. Less.

Number Eight is P3X-989; a place that at least was inhabited once; Daniel steps through the Stargate into a room full of machines. He's barely begun to look around when he's knocked unconscious, and when he comes to, he's being held prisoner, gagged and adhered -- somehow -- to a table in a large room somewhere. It smells of dust and oil, and there's a distant sound of machinery.

His captor's name is Harlan; a fussy, funny, silly little man. Daniel would like him if Harlan weren't holding him prisoner. Harlan keeps assuring Daniel that he will let him go back through the Stargate soon, but he won't ungag him, so Daniel can't ask him any questions or find out why he's being treated this way. Harlan doesn't seem to mean to want to hurt him, but apparently Harlan doesn't realize that Daniel needs to eat and drink -- especially drink. And Daniel can't tell him, because Harlan won't ungag him.

Harlan holds him prisoner for three days.

No matter Harlan's intentions, Daniel is so weak by the time Harlan finally releases him that he can't even explain why he's here. He tries, but Harlan just hustles him back to the Stargate and shoves him through. Daniel rolls down the steps on the other side, colliding with his pack -- apparently Harlan sent that through first -- and it's only after he's gulped down most of the contents of his canteen that he realizes he's back on PX8-925. Daniel wonders how Harlan got the address, and why he didn't just send him back to the last place he'd been. Considering that it was the desert world, he's just as glad he didn't.

He has a blinding headache and wishes for aspirin. Coffee would help even more, but there isn't any. He's got dried meat and dried fruit and some cheese that Hanno gave him. When that runs out, he'd better hope he finds another village willing to feed him. He could go back to the Land of Light to resupply, or to Argos, or even Cimmeria, but if he went to Argos or Cimmeria he'd have to explain what had happened to Earth, and if he goes back to the Mykene, they'll just want him to stay.

Only as a last resort.

When he can get to his feet again, he dials back to P3X-989, but he can't get a lock, and after several tries, he gives up. Obviously Harlan doesn't want him to come back. He wonders why Harlan kept him for so long, in that case, and why he refused to talk to him. The place looked technologically advanced; he wishes Harlan would at least have answered some of his questions....

He stays for a few days on PX8-925, getting his strength back, even though his food supplies are now running dangerously low, before moving on to the next planet on his list. He spends too long there, just wandering among the trees, though it's empty like so many of the others, and he realizes that he's starting to despair. How long did SG-1 -- with the full resources of the SGC behind them -- spend on this same task? Looking for weapons, looking for allies. They found trading partners, a few useful medical plants. Information that gave them perspective on Earth's history. People who wouldn't talk to them: the Nox, the Asgard. Daniel finds himself looking at things from Jack's perspective now, and it's frustrating.

He could spend the rest of his life wandering from Stargate to Stargate and not even finding any people. The ones he's found so far are too cowed to fight back, or won't even talk to him. And who can blame them? The _Goa'uld_ have done a good job of keeping the Galaxy beaten down around them.

_They rebelled on Abydos,_ he reminds himself. _Teal'c turned against Apophis._

_Yes. Because Jack asked them to._

_Jack is gone and you're left,_ he tells himself brutally, and even if this isn't his kind of fight at all, he's never backed down from a fight.

He just has to figure out what Jack would have done, and figure out if he can bring himself to do it. Because Jack wasn't always right, wasn't right even half the time. But if the _Goa'uld_ are going to destroy Abydos next, Daniel can't bring himself to think that what he imagines Jack would want to do is wrong.

He forces himself to move on. Her next destination is the last of those he remembers SGC-designations for. The last of SG-1's projected missions. P3R-233.

#

When he steps through it's pitch-dark except for the light of the Stargate; another indoor place full of machines, like P3X-989, and this time, seeing that, Daniel backs up warily. He'd really rather talk first before somebody knocks him unconscious.

He realizes that when the wormhole disengages he'll be left in the dark, so he scrambles for his flashlight and barely gets it out before the Stargate shuts down. Then he sneezes violently, because the air is choked with dust.

He clutches the flashlight tightly, standing on the steps of the Gate platform for several minutes hoping nobody will attack him this time. Nobody comes. The air is soft and dead, making his throat dry and his eyes itch, and as he shines the light around the room, he sees that the smooth floor is treacherous with soft dust. There are no footprints. This place has been deserted for a very long time.

He steps away from the Stargate and starts to look around, feeling the same excitement he would have felt seeing this place in another lifetime. This place is an alien museum. They must have brought back things from _everywhere._

He finds one room filled with the treasures of Ancient Earth. Whoever these people were, they visited Earth long ago, explorers like himself, and brought their finds back here for study. Maybe they've even studied the _Goa'uld_. He can learn from them. He'll keep dialing Abydos; if the _Goa'uld_ don't come, the Abydans will unseal their Gate at the end of a year, just as he told them to, and he can go through.

Meanwhile, he'll have to go back to the Land of Light for supplies. He can tell Tuplo he's found something important to study beyond the Gate. He'll need torches and lanterns for when his flashlight runs out. And some way to take notes.

He feels excitement. Hope. He'll just take a quick look around here and then go. He picks up one of the items from the table -- a clay cone from Lagash -- and puts it down reluctantly. There will be time later to study them closely.

And these aren't the things he needs, he admits grudgingly to himself. Fascinating as they are -- and saddening, too; they're all that's left of Earth, preserved by chance by alien archaeologists -- they won't save the Abydans from the _Goa'uld_. He needs to find something that can.

But though he can identify everything else on the table -- all objects from ancient Near Eastern Earth cultures -- one of the items on the table doesn't fit. He picks it up curiously. It's a small gleaming object, bright and high-tech, and when he has it in his hand, it lights up.

And something over in the corner that he hadn't paid any attention to before lights up too. It looks like a mirror set into a chunk of rock. He holds the alien object in one hand and his flashlight in the other and walks over to it, peering at it nearsightedly.

It _looks_ like a mirror. He can see the room behind him. He just can't see himself.

There's something else off about the reflection, though, besides the fact that he isn't in it. He tucks the flashlight under his arm and reaches out to touch the surface of the mirror curiously, then gasps in surprise -- dropping the flashlight -- as he receives a faint electrical shock. It runs up from his fingertips through his entire body. The whole room is suddenly brighter. He turns around in alarm.

_Jack was always telling you not to touch things and he was right--_

Then his mind stops working completely.

#

P3R-233. Another number, another day. He's tired of this. He ought to retire. He should have been court-martialed. He thinks so. Hammond doesn't.

_There was nothing you could do, Jack._

Hammond's wrong.

They could have _not_ gone to P3X-866 in the first place. They could have _not_ believed that Daniel was dead. They could have _not_ taken three days to figure out that their heads were being messed with and get back there to rescue him.

He will never, as long as he lives, forget the moment the alien fish guy walked up out of the water, carrying Daniel's body.

His dead body.

He'd wanted to kill the thing. Carter had stopped him.

They took Daniel's body home. Frasier has told O'Neill how Daniel died, but all he remembers about the report is that Daniel didn't drown. He's buried in Chicago, next to his parents. O'Neill's still here, going through the motions.

At least the second time they got a body to bury.

He's lost people under his command before. He's lost a child. This is somehow an unholy combination of the two and something worse. Daniel wasn't just another officer. Daniel wasn't just his friend. Daniel was their conscience -- not just his, not just SG-1's, but all of them. Hammond's. The SGC's. They'd taken their big alien toy out of the box and Daniel made it work and he'd never -- _never_ \-- stopped telling them what they ought to be doing with it.

Only now he has.

Because something they're never going to be able to figure out happened on a planet on the other side of the Galaxy and Daniel's dead. And the only thing that keeps O'Neill here -- it's not a good reason, he knows that -- is that nobody else will look for Sha're and Skaara if he doesn't.

If he finds Skaara, if he finds Sha're, it won't bring Daniel back. But it will be a better memorial than the flag O'Neill keeps on his mantle.

#

The Stargate on P3R-233 is inside some kind of museum. It's dark, and smells of dust. O'Neill looks around warily.

Teal'c says that the _Goa'uld_ have been here, though not recently.

O'Neill tells Carter and Rothman to make a sweep. Rothman stumbles after Carter, snuffling at the dust. O'Neill grits his teeth. He doesn't like Rothman, even if the guy was Daniel's personal pet, but he's dammed if he'll ask for a replacement. As it is, they've been through six A/T specialists in the last three months -- Rothman is Lucky Number Seven -- due to transfers out. It's not that O'Neill asks to have them reassigned. They just decide they want to be somewhere else. He's sure Rothman will, too. Sooner or later. At least no one else has died.

Suddenly Teal'c gets a look at a piece of voodoo and announces -- looking as spooked as Teal'c ever does -- that they aren't safe here and have to leave at once. Something about _'Crush Me',_ which sounds Russian to O'Neill, and probably isn't.

Daniel would know.

And then Carter is shouting for him.

"Crush Me" or not, he and Teal'c are off in the direction of the sound as fast as they can go, weapons at the ready. It's easy enough to find. The only place in this whole damned sideshow where the lights are on.

They charge in and skid to a halt.

Carter and Rothman are there.

And so is Daniel.

Daniel stares at him and his face goes white. He reels back, looking as if he's about to faint, and for one crazy moment all O'Neill wants to do is catch him before he falls.

"You're dead," Daniel says.

#

"We walked in here to check it out and he..." Carter swallows hard. "He was standing here. Sir."

Daniel is out of uniform. He's wearing a blue scarf tied around his head -- no cap -- and his equipment vest is way too big. His uniform is dirty and a bit tattered and his boots are a mess. He isn't wearing his glasses.

No gun, either.

"Teal'c?" O'Neill says, and his voice is harsh, because it doesn't matter how much you want something, there are things you know you can't have. His MP5 is already pointed at ... it ... and he flicks the other hand, and Carter falls back behind him, pulling Rothman with her.

"I am uncertain, O'Neill," Teal'c says.

"Jack?" the thing says. "Sam?" Its voice holds a mixture of shock and disbelief, desperate hope and something on the edge of horror. It's him; in his bones O'Neill knows it's him; and for one sick instant he has the urge to empty the whole clip from the MP5 into it _right now_ , because dead things should _stay dead,_ not come walking up to you on alien planets three months after you've laid a wreath on their grave.

"What are you?" O'Neill asks, because that's his job.

Its eyes -- Daniel's eyes -- widen, as if that's the last question he -- it -- expected to hear. It raises a hand, as if the effort of speech is too much. It's holding something.

"Drop it," O'Neill says, jerking the barrel at him.

"You can't be... I know you can't be... Who are you?" the thing that looks like Daniel says, and it's still holding that thing in it's hand, waving it around as if it doesn't know it's holding it, just the way Daniel would. O'Neill cuts his eyes aside to Carter for an instant; she's rattled but she picks up her cue without hesitation -- good girl -- darting right in from the side and snatching it right out of its hand, in and out of range before the Daniel-thing has a chance to react. It flinches when she grabs the device, as if it hadn't noticed her moving. It looks as if it can't make up its mind whether to cower or fight; it's staring at all of them, but especially at him.

"I say again: _what are you?_ " O'Neill says.

"I'm Daniel Jackson," the thing pretending to be Daniel repeats plaintively. It makes up its mind and takes a step forward, reaching out a hand. "I'm a peaceful explorer. I mean you no harm."

"Don't," O'Neill says, jerking his gunbarrel at ... it.

The thing recoils, looking shocked. "Who are you? Is this your planet? Why do you look like my friends?" His gaze moves past O'Neill, to Rothman, and O'Neill would swear that now the thing looks puzzled and just a little irritated.

O'Neill sets his jaw. "Carter, go dial up the Gate. Tell General Hammond we've run into a problem and we need a really quick answer."

Because P3R-233 isn't safe for human life.

#

He knows that Earth has been destroyed. He might not believe Amaunet, but he believes Teal'c.

He knows that Jack and Sam are dead. That Teal'c is gone, and probably dead.

That Robert is dead. And Robert was never a member of SG-1 anyway, so it's twice-baffling that if aliens are impersonating SG-1, they should make Robert a member of it. Obviously they're drawing on his memories somehow -- or he's hallucinating -- but why _Robert?_

This impersonation should be a first step to communication, but apparently it isn't. The Jack-alien won't talk to him, or let him talk. His hands are bound behind his back and he's taken to the Stargate, and Daniel thinks with resignation that he's simply going to be sent somewhere else again. Unwanted visitor. He asks them to let him dial -- at least he can go back to PX8-925 -- but all of them just look at him as if he's lost his mind. 'Robert' dials, and when Daniel sees the address he's dialing, he starts to struggle.

'Robert' is dialing Earth.

'Sam' sends an IDC code, and 'Teal'c' drags him through the event horizon.

On the other side, what he sees holds him still with shock. He's in the Gate Room of the SGC. It looks the way it did the day he left; pristine, untouched -- Walter's at the computers, even General Hammond is standing there at the foot of the ramp -- and that's when Daniel knows that something more bizarre and horrible is going on than having been captured by shapeshifting aliens, because he knows of no way to fake a Gate address, so this must be Earth. He's back on Earth, and it hasn't been destroyed. He tries to explain that this is impossible -- that Earth is gone -- but 'Jack' won't listen.

None of them will listen to him.

"What in the name of God is that, Colonel O'Neill?" General Hammond asks, only Daniel is pretty sure that the real General Hammond is dead.

"We don't know yet, General. We found it on P3R-233. It thinks it's Daniel."

"I _am_ Daniel! I'm Daniel Jackson! I don't know who you are, but I'm Daniel Jackson!"

Armed SFs come up the ramp to meet them. They grab him by the arms and take him up to the Infirmary.

#

"Janet?" he says, stunned. He stopped struggling several levels ago, but the SFs haven't relaxed their death-grip. Daniel can't believe all that he's seeing: this is the SGC. If it's a copy -- as far as he can see -- it's exact.

Janet's eyes grow wide when she sees him. The captain of the security team makes his report: prisoner found by SG-1 on P3R-233, here for medical examination.

They cut the tie on his wrists. That's an improvement. But they don't move back.

"Janet, what's going on?" he asks. Surely she'll tell him; they've been friends for months.

"Dr. Jackson is dead," Janet says. Janet tries very hard to keep her voice even, but it shakes, and she won't meet his eyes.

"Dead?" he says. " _I'm_ dead? Janet, you don't understand! You're dead, and Jack, and Sam, and General Hammond! I don't know about Teal'c -- he might be dead, I'm not sure -- but Robert is definitely dead, and Walter, oh, yeah, Walter is dead, and Sgt. Siler--"

She recoils; he reaches for her, just wanting to make her listen, but the SFs lunge for him again. He struggles furiously. He's angry and frightened and knows he's losing control, but he can't help it. Janet pushes up his sleeve and gets a needle into his arm quickly, taking blood. It hurts, and he yells.

"You're human," she says, surprised.

"Of course I'm human! I'm Daniel Jackson! Janet, you know me, listen to me! The _Goa'uld_ came here, they destroyed Earth--"

"Whoever you are, you have to calm down right now," Janet says firmly. "We aren't going to hurt you. We just need to run a few tests. It will be easier if--"

"Who are you?" Daniel shouts, struggling harder. "You can't be Janet! Janet is dead! Sam and Jack are dead! I buried Jack myself! The _Goa'uld_ destroyed Earth! Apophis and Amaunet! They destroyed it!"

"Corpsman, let's get some restraints over here," Janet says.

The SFs and two orderlies hold him down as a third one tries to force him into restraints, and that's the last thing he remembers.

#

When he wakes up, he's strapped to a bed in Isolation Medical. He can tell this even without his glasses because the walls are black. It's some kind of shielding material, Sam told him once. His mouth is dry from sedation.

He shifts restlessly, but there's no play in the restraints. He's strapped down as thoroughly as Kawalsky was; at least he's on his back. Do they think he's a _Goa'uld_?. They have to know he isn't by now. They've had time to do an MRI.

He realizes he's thinking as if this is the real Stargate Command. But it can't be.

There's someone in the room with him. Not any of the medical staff; it's a green blur instead of a white one. The figure approaches when he starts to struggle.

It's Jack.

The fake one.

"Welcome back," 'Jack' says. His voice is neutral. Daniel closes his eyes in frustration.

"So," 'Jack' says. "That planet? Where I'm ... buried?"

"It isn't you." Daniel's voice is hoarse. He opens his eyes again. 'Jack' holds a cup so he can drink through the straw. Ice water. After he's spent so long drinking from streams and pools on alien planets, it doesn't really taste like water at all; bland and denatured -- in all senses of the word -- with a hint of chlorine. But he's thirsty and his throat hurts. The cold is soothing.

"Where are my glasses?" Daniel asks next, because if they're going to pretend to be real, pretend to be his friends, they should at least give him his glasses.

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

"Amaunet broke them. And if you were who you're pretending to be, you'd know I have a spare pair in my office."

There's a pause. 'Jack' reaches for something that Daniel can't turn his head far enough to see, then he sees his glasses in 'Jack's' hands. Daniel feels a familiar presence settle -- awkwardly, not-quite-right -- onto his nose. He blinks. The world is once more in focus.

"Thanks," he says awkwardly.

It's disturbing on so many levels that the aliens have a pair of his glasses.

Actually, it's terrifying.

'Jack' looks as disturbed about the glasses as Daniel feels, and Daniel wonders why.

"This, ah, Amaunet?" 'Jack' asks, gesturing toward Daniel's glasses, and Daniel realizes he's going to be interrogated now. He wonders if any of this is actually _real_. If he's gone mad. If he's dead. If these people are -- somehow -- _Goa'uld_.

Maybe this is what the host experiences, trapped within their own mind. A horribly plausible fantasy of their former reality. Maybe this is why Sha're told Amaunet what she did.

But -- in that case -- shouldn't it be _really_ plausible? Why are there so many things here that don't make sense? Why is everyone saying he's dead? Why is Robert on SG-1?

He doesn't really think 'Jack' is a _Goa'uld_ or a fantasy created by one, actually. The _Goa'uld_ aren't, from all he's seen, that big on subtlety. But even if it is, does it matter what he tells? Earth is gone, and if he's a host and these are fantasies a _Goa'uld_ is creating, it's already over for him . Besides, the _Goa'uld_ already know everything about the Stargate and its addresses -- and themselves -- that he does. And why would his _Goa'uld_ \-- if there is one -- bother with creating this illusion? Anything it wants to know, it could just rip out of his mind.

The restraints would make sense if he were crazy, though. But then, shouldn't they be telling him he's crazy instead of dead?

So... They aren't _Goa'uld_ , and he isn't crazy. That's a start.

"Amaunet is Apophis's Queen. Apophis is a _Goa'uld_ that we've fought before. I don't know why I'm telling you all this. I don't really think you can be Jack O'Neill. I wish you were. So that means you're a figment of my imagination, and I'm talking to myself." _Or you're a really strange alien._

"Pretend I'm real," Jack says dryly. It sounds like Jack. It can't be Jack. Daniel sighs, and closes his eyes.

Maybe the last several weeks were just a really bad dream. Maybe _he_ was on the steps that day, not Jack. Maybe he was badly hurt and has been in a coma. Maybe this is his first true awakening.

"The _Goa'uld_ destroyed Earth and you died," Daniel says.

"Ah... not noticeably," Jack says.

"You said... Janet said I was dead." He stares up at Jack hoping for some clue to the truth. He sees nothing.

"You're human. Frasier says your DNA matches Daniel Jackson's. I don't know..." Jack's voice trails off.

Jack -- fantasy, hallucination, alien -- thinks he's dead too, Daniel realizes. _That's frustrating._

"Tell me what you remember," Jack-not-Jack says.

"About you _dying?_ The three of us -- you, me, Teal'c -- were offworld; it was our first mission after Oannes. Sam didn't go because she had to run a Gate diagnostic, but it wasn't something we had to cancel the mission for. The wormhole was still open when the SGC -- Earth -- was attacked by the _Goa'uld_ and a blast of energy came through the Stargate. You were standing right in front of it. Teal'c and I were farther away. We tried dialing back to Earth, but we couldn't get a lock. We kept trying for weeks, but the Earth Stargate never responded." He stops.

"And yet, here I am. And Carter, and Teal'c."

"That's the really odd thing, because Teal'c and I buried you," Daniel says evenly.

"Yeah, well, we buried you, too," Jack says. He gets up and walks away and Daniel is alone again.

#

Janet comes in a few minutes later. She's all business and won't meet Daniel's eyes. Daniel doesn't push things.

Jack -- whatever Daniel was talking to sounded so much like Jack -- seemed so convinced he was dead.

Daniel has always trusted the evidence of his senses, but now they're telling him two sets of contradictory things. Jack is dead. Jack is alive. And only one can be real.

But he's come back from the dead. From real death twice, and false death -- at the hands of Nem -- once. And even if Jack could have done the same, Daniel's imagination fails at the idea that a whole planet could have managed the same trick.

There has to be another explanation.

He just doesn’t know what it is.

#

A few hours later he's moved from Isolation Medical to a holding cell. At least the restraints come off, though he's in cuffs until they get him to the cell. He's tired of being treated like a stranger, as a prisoner: if this is the SGC, and they recognize him, then they should stop treating him this way and _talk to him_. He's not some enemy alien. He's their friend, their colleague. He demands to see Jack, Sam, General Hammond. He gets no response from the guard on the door. Armed guards bring him meals. They won't speak to him.

Time passes.

#

Somewhere between breakfast and lunch on the third day, he's taken to an Interrogation Room. The upper walls are mirrored glass, and he knows there are probably people watching.

Jack -- or the thing pretending to be Jack -- walks in. He looks harassed.

"You want to go over it again?" he says.

Daniel simply puts his head down on his hands.

"I've told you everything I know. Why won't you talk to me? I'm Daniel Jackson. I don't know who you are, but I'm Daniel Jackson."

"Carter's got a theory," 'Jack' says.

Daniel looks up. "She isn't Sam," he says dully.

"Actually, she is. Well, _Carter._ And Teal'c's Teal'c, and I'm Jack O'Neill. And Carter thinks you're ... Daniel Jackson." 'Jack' sits down opposite him, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else. "She says you have to tell us what happened on P3X-866."

Daniel searches the face of the man opposite him -- it's so hard not to think of him as Jack -- wondering if this is some kind of trick. He can't imagine why anybody would want to know about that.

"We named the planet Oannes," Daniel says slowly. "An alien called Nem -- blue skin, gills -- kidnapped me and held me for three days. He convinced you I was dead, but I wasn't. You broke his conditioning and came back for me. I'd been awake the whole time, trying to figure out what he wanted. He just wanted information about his mate, Omoroca. After I'd gotten some sleep, we all went out for sushi at that place down on... that place..."

He falters to a stop, because Jack is staring at him, and Daniel thinks that Jack is really seeing him for the first time. There's always that moment with Jack, when he starts to let you in. Not an easy man to know, Jack O'Neill, and Daniel realizes, listening to his own thoughts, that no matter how insane, how impossible it is, he believes that Jack is really Jack.

That Jack is not dead.

"We came back, and got your _body,_ " Jack says harshly.

Daniel feels the world revolve giddily around him and takes a deep breath. "That's not possible. Jack, I'm not dead."

"Neither am I."

Daniel drops his head into his hands. "I saw you die."

"Yeah." The word comes out on a long sigh.

"This mirror thing on 233," Jack says after a moment. "Carter says it's like a Stargate. Only it takes you sideways."

Daniel looks up. "I saw it. It was in the room with a lot of artifacts from Earth. You must have seen them. It was the only thing that didn't belong. There was... There was something on the table. I picked it up, and the ...mirror... lit up. I went over to it. I could see the room behind me; I just couldn't see myself. I touched it, and then I turned around, and Sam and Robert came in. And, ah, when did Robert join SG-1 anyway, if you don't mind my asking?"

Jack smiles. It isn't a real smile. "About three months after you died."

"You know," Daniel says cautiously, after a very long pause, "I might understand this better if Sam explained it."

#

Jack gets up and picks up the wall phone. Daniel can't hear the conversation, but a few moments later Sam walks in. She regards him cautiously.

"Daniel?" she says.

"Sam?" he answers -- equally warily -- and she smiles. He can tell it's an effort.

"I realize this all has to seem pretty strange to you," she says.

"Pretty strange," he agrees, "considering that everybody's been telling me I'm dead. And I _know_ you are."

Sam winces just a little. "Well," she says softly, "our Daniel _is_ dead. I'm sorry about your Sam."

He shakes his head, baffled.

"The device we found on P3R-233 is, for lack of a better word, a quantum mirror," Sam says, coming over and sitting down at the table. "I'm pretty sure it allows travel between alternate realities."

"Like _Star Trek_ ," Jack says helpfully.

"Yes, sir," Sam agrees dutifully. "Daniel, the theory behind alternate realities is that every possible variation of reality exists, and that every time a decision is made, a new -- alternate -- reality is created. All of those universes exist side-by-side, and this Quantum Mirror of yours has apparently been designed to allow travel between realities. By touching it, you've stepped from your reality into ours."

Her explanation doesn't make a lot of sense to Daniel, but at least it offers a glimmer of hope. Not madness. Not death. _Science._

"So ... here ... I'm ... dead," he says slowly. Then he laughs shakily. "And in my universe, _everybody's_ dead."

If everything they're telling him is true, it explains the oddness in Sam's reaction and Jack's. it's not so much that they think he's an impostor. It's that they're grieving for a dead man.

Him.

"Yeah," Jack says. "We got that. You want to explain it again -- slowly?"

Daniel tells them as much as he knows: that Apophis and Amaunet rallied the System Lords into an alliance to attack and destroy Earth.

"And it was my fault," Daniel says. "They did it because of me. "Apophis always thought we were a threat after Chulak. But the reason he could get all the System Lords to go along with him was because of what Amaunet told him about us. And she knew what I'd told Sha're."

Jack shakes his head slightly. "Ra wanted to kill all of us before he'd even met you. Whatever happened isn't your fault."

"We need to know when it happened," Sam says urgently. "If it was three months ago--"

"Three months?" That's the second time someone here has mentioned three months as if it were some sort of important cut-off date. "We went to Oannes two months ago," Daniel says. "PX8-925 was about six weeks ago."

Sam frowns. "But the Oannes mission was three months ago, not two. There shouldn't be that much time-slip. Unless..." she glances at Jack.

"Come on, Daniel. Let's take a walk," Jack says.

#

They go down to Sam's lab, walking through the familiar corridors of the SGC. Teal'c joins them on the way; he regards Daniel with aloof disinterest, and Daniel reminds himself that this Teal'c is not -- precisely -- his friend.

They reach Sam's lab. The Quantum Mirror is there, shut down and empty, sealed behind a Plexiglass shield.

"We had to put that up," Sam says, nodding at the shield. "People kept getting sucked into alternate universes. It happens any time you touch the surface while it's activated. But there's always a mirror on the other side, so you just have to touch it again to get back."

"I don't understand," Daniel says. "Why was my Earth destroyed and..." _And not yours?_ It seems rude to ask someone why they're still alive, though, so he stops.

"That's the thing," Sam says. She sounds both excited and grim. "According to my calculations, the only reason for the time-slippage would be if you came from a quantum variation fairly far away from ours. The closer ones to our own reality would be closer in time, because the speed of light is a constant in the creation of new universe, so you have to take that into account. The trouble is, I don't think your universe is quite far enough away."

"For what?" Daniel asks.

"For us to ignore it," Sam says.

She switches the controller on. The center of the mirror shimmers and fills, but it doesn't reflect Sam's lab. It's showing the SGC Control Room, for some reason, but the computers are dark, and show the marks of weapons fire.

_\--flip--_

The lab on P3R-233. It looks the way Daniel remembers it, but the flashlight he dropped on the floor isn't there.

_\--flip--_

The lab on 233 again. Different artifacts on the table.

_\--flip--_

A storage room filled with crates.

"Looks like Area 51," Sam comments. "Intact, but it won't be for long, on the basis of what I keep seeing. All of these variations we've just seen are close to our own reality, and when you start going further out, most of the SGCs we're able to see through the Quantum Mirror have already been invaded -- and destroyed -- by the _Goa'uld_ , just as you say your Earth was. I think your reality may just be ahead of ours, not really divergent from it, and that means that Apophis will be attacking Earth -- our Earth -- soon. We have to figure out where the attack is coming from in time to stop it." She shuts down the Mirror again.

"So?" Jack says. "Daniel? Any ideas?"

It is so much as if he's home again, as if the nightmare never happened, that he wants to reject all he knows. But what he knows could save this reality.

"When we couldn't dial back to Earth, Teal'c and I went to the Land of Light. We were there for about a month. We realized that the only way we were going to find out what had happened on Earth was to go there by ship, so... Teal'c went to Chulak. And I followed him."

"That would have been most unwise, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c says. He sounds primly disapproving, as if it had all been Daniel's idea. Daniel sighs.

"Yeah. Well. If you'd -- if _he'd_ \-- told me what he was going to do, maybe I wouldn't have. But when he vanished, I thought he might need help. I got into the city, overheard a guard patrol talking, and found out that Apophis and someone named Prince Klorel were away at war. So I snuck into the Palace to look for him. Amaunet caught me while I was leaving."

The others are all looking at him, not quite willing to ask questions yet. He shrugs, wrapping his arms around himself. There are so many things he'd like to forget. The sight of Amaunet wearing his wife's face is one.

"Teal'c wasn't even in the Palace. He told me later -- after he got me out of there -- that he'd gone to a priestess he knew named Shau'nac at the temple of Apophis. She told him just about what Amaunet told me. So if there's a Shau'nac here, I'm betting she knows as much about Apophis's plans as the other one did."

Jack looks at Teal'c, and Teal'c nods. Teal'c regards Daniel with faint suspicion, as if he's not quite certain why Daniel should know these things -- or tell them to them.

"Will it work, T?" Jack asks.

"Perhaps," Teal'c says reluctantly.

Jack shrugs. "All righty then. Let's go talk to General Hammond."

#

Daniel is alone later in temporary quarters -- better ones now -- when the door opens. He spent the rest of the afternoon with Robert. Robert has Daniel's old office and all of his books; he -- the other Daniel Jackson -- left the books, if not the office, to Robert in his will.

Robert has told him about the memorial service, the wake; those are the parts of the story everyone knows. The second funeral -- the one with the body -- people know about that, too. It's the part between that Daniel has to guess for himself. The part where SG-1 went back to Oannes convinced that their belief in his death was all a trick, that he was still alive, only to bring home the body that settled the matter past all disputation.

He knows about hoping, and having hope destroyed. Hope is worse, because part of you is already imagining that everything is going to be all right when you find out that it isn't. He's a little surprised Jack's willing to talk to him at all; Jack has never been good with being jerked around by either people or circumstances. It's not that -- he thinks -- Jack would blame him for being alive when what Jack has to think of as the 'real' Daniel is dead; it's just that Jack wouldn't want to be reminded of his failure.

Daniel knows that Jack thinks of Charlie's death as his own personal failure. He felt responsible when Kawalsky died, too, as if anyone could have prevented it. And Daniel knows, as certainly as if he's been told, that his counterpart's death -- more so than if it were Sam's, more so than Teal'c's -- would be another failure in Jack's mind.

_Is_ another failure.

Teal'c is standing in the doorway. Odd. Daniel had been sure it would be Jack.

#

Teal'c regards him silently. Daniel wonders if it's supposed to make him nervous. Teal'c makes a lot of people nervous, but he's always thought of Teal'c as a friend. He gestures for Teal'c to come in, moving the books that Robert has loaned him -- is it really a loan if the books, in some sense, used to be his? -- aside to make a space on the bed, though he doubts Teal'c will want to sit down.

"I wish to speak to you, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c says.

"I, ah, oh, yeah. Sure. I mean, go ahead."

He wonders what this is about.

"Tomorrow I go to Chulak to speak to Shau'nac. I am certain that she will tell me all I wish to know."

Daniel doesn't doubt that. Most people do.

"There are things I wish to know from you as well."

"I, ah, I've told Jack and Sam everything," Daniel says tentatively.

"You have not," Teal'c says. "You have not told them of the fate of my counterpart in your universe."

Oh.

"I don't really know," Daniel says. "He... left."

Teal'c stares down at him. "I would not abandon Daniel Jackson."

Daniel sighs and gets up, walking over to the table in the corner. There's a coffee service set up there. He pours himself a cup.

"No. That's not what happened. He..." Daniel stops, not entirely certain how to explain. "Earth was gone. Amaunet told me. Shau'nac told him."

"So you have said."

"He wanted ... _kel'mar_."

Teal'c was looking at him before, but now his attention is even more focused.

"And did you not wish revenge, Daniel Jackson?"

"I... yes. No. Everyone and everything I've ever known is gone. Killing the _Goa'uld_ won't bring them back." He sighs, knowing this isn't what Teal'c wants to hear. "But letting the _Goa'uld_ go on to kill other people isn't the answer either. I think -- I hope -- that I can still save Abydos -- their Gate is still sealed, so I don't think the _Goa'uld_ have gone there yet -- and convince other worlds to rebel against the _Goa'uld_. Teal'c -- my Teal'c -- told me the _Goa'uld_ would turn on each other once they'd destroyed Earth. He told me their alliance would be unstable. On Chulak, he said he was going to pledge himself to one of the other System Lords, to try to sow dissent among the Jaffa from within, the way Bra'tac had done. He thought he had a chance of trading Apophis's secrets for his life."

"His plan has little chance of success," Teal'c says after a moment.

"I told him that," Daniel says sadly. "He wouldn't listen to me."

"What of Master Bra'tac? Did they not speak?"

"Bra'tac wasn't on Chulak. I went to his house. It was closed up. It looked as if he planned to be gone for a long time."

"Do you know where he had gone?"

"Teal'c didn't say. I don't know if he knew -- he said Shau'nac told him as much as she did in order to get him to, ah, 'repent,'" Daniel says awkwardly.

Teal'c smiles faintly, and nods. "Yes. Shau'nac is a loyal servant of Apophis. I shall go to her and present myself as eager to rejoin the _Goa'uld_. I am certain that she will be forthcoming."

"You'll be careful?" Daniel asks before he can stop himself. Teal'c looks surprised.

"I know I'm not ... real ... to you," Daniel says carefully, because the last months have taught him how little he really understands Teal'c, "but you're real to me. And I just don't want..."

"I must go and return safely if I am to save Earth," Teal'c says firmly. "Of this I am aware. Rest well, Daniel Jackson. Perhaps, in your reality, my counterpart has achieved _kel'mar_."

Daniel nods. It would make Teal'c happy, even though he can't imagine how it could be possible.

"He wanted to avenge Jack."

"Here, O'Neill will not need to be avenged."

#

He's on his way out the door for the day, doing a last swing through, checking on things that -- mostly -- don't need to be checked on. He opens the door to The Other Daniel's temporary quarters, and Daniel's sitting there, crouched over the table with a pile of books and a cup of coffee in his hand. He looks up as the door opens, and even though O'Neill has had three days now to get used to the idea that the fact that _Daniel is back_ is more of Carter's wacky science, it's still a shock, because he's been seeing Daniel out of the corner of his eye every place he looks since 866, and now he can stare straight-on and Daniel's still there.

"I was about to head out for the night. Thought I'd stop in and see if you needed anything," O'Neill says.

"I guess I've got pretty much everything." Daniel gestures at the books, the coffee. "Saw Teal'c earlier. He says he's going to Chulak tomorrow."

"Yeah. He figures he's got the best shot at this going alone, and General Hammond agrees, so..."

And that really sucks, and O'Neill spent the better part of the afternoon arguing against it, but it's not like they have an all-Jaffa SG Team to send through the Gate to back Teal'c up, either, and a bunch of _Tau'ri_ are not going to exactly be inconspicuous on Chulak, especially if things are going down over there the way they might be.

"That's good, then. Good. Maybe you can..."

Daniel stops, but O'Neill knows what he was going to say anyway. _Maybe you can save your Earth._

For a moment O'Neill imagines Earth gone, and everyone dead. Imagines the world Other Daniel's been living in. Daniel never was a soldier, and all Stargate Command's best efforts hadn't been able to turn him into one. O'Neill can't imagine what Daniel was going to do wandering around the universe alone.

This man isn't the friend his lost. But he owes that friend's memory something.

"Why don't you come home with me? I hear this place gets really depressing at night."

And Daniel smiles, and puts down his book, and comes.

#

"Everything's the same."

"Light the fire. I'll get the beer."

Daniel died a few weeks after his birthday, at the end of July. It's the beginning of October now. Dark and chilly. There's a fire already laid in the fireplace, and Daniel moves to light it as O'Neill heads for the kitchen. He brings back two beers and hands one to Daniel.

Daniel tilts it back, grimacing -- as always -- at the taste. Three beers and Daniel will be pretty much dead drunk. He never did have any head for beer.

He stares down into the kindling fire, sipping his beer. "Thanks for this, Jack," he says, gesturing. "You don't know--" He stops.

"You needed somewhere to be," O'Neill says, because that's part of the truth.

He wonders how much they're alike, this Daniel and theirs. Carter said some of the universes are so much alike that you could step through the Mirror and never know you had.

He sits down in the chair, watching Daniel, thinking back to that first night -- Daniel just back from Abydos. If he'd known then that Daniel would die, would he have let Daniel join SG-1 at all? But without him, the rest of them would have died half-a-dozen times over.

Daniel turns away from the fire and comes to sit down on the couch. He stares down at the bottle in his hands. "Teal'c said I didn't tell you everything."

O'Neill raises an eyebrow at him.

"He wanted to know what happened to the, to the other Teal'c. Why he wasn't with me."

"And?"

"I told him he went off to fight the _Goa'uld_."

"Sounds like Teal'c."

"And then I got to thinking that I hadn't told you everything either. I mean, I answered all your questions, but there are things you aren't going to ask about."

"You want a pizza? Because I bet you skipped dinner, and I don't think there's anything in the fridge."

#

Daniel knows this is a delaying tactic, but he's missed pizza. He's even missed beer. So Jack phones for pizza, and while they're waiting, he lets Jack talk about unimportant things. Television programs Daniel doesn't watch. People he knows only slightly. They're on to their second round of beers by the time the pizza arrives. There's a third bottle with the pizza -- pepperoni and cheese and it's hot and salty and biting into that first slice, there in Jack's living room, Daniel is sure that this, _this_ is what Civilization is all about. The right to drink beer and eat pizza in a quiet living room and know you can do it next week, next month, next year.

And he's had three beers now, and he's pretty sure he's drunk enough to say what needs to be said.

"I told you about Oannes," he says, pushing the half-empty pizza box away. "But I didn't tell you how -- your -- Daniel died."

"Daniel!" Jack snaps, and if Daniel's drunk enough for this conversation, it's clear that Jack isn't. Probably never will be. Needs to have it anyway.

"Listen to me. I know you- I know you blame yourself. But what happened on Oannes wasn't your fault."

Jack gets to his feet. He walks over to the fireplace. His back is to Daniel.

"I lost a member of my command, Daniel. How is that not my fault?" There's anger in his voice, but it's not directed toward Daniel. Not yet.

"I was there. I know what happened. I have to have made the same choices here that I did there."

" _You_ didn't die." Daniel knows Jack doesn't want to blame him for being alive, but it's hard for him not to. It's odd; he doesn't feel the same way about this Jack; doesn't blame him for being alive when his own Jack O'Neill is dead. It was just massively disastrous bad luck.

That's what it was for Daniel-here, too.

"But I could have. There was a risk. Nem told me there was. We both made the same choice. We must have."

"I don't want to hear this, Daniel," Jack says, and there's a warning note in his voice now.

Daniel laughs shakily, and knows he's drunk. "Yes you do. Of course you do. You want to know what happened. I know you do. You want to know everything. And I'm the only one who can tell you."

He knows Jack won't drive after three beers, but he could call The Mountain and have someone come and take Daniel back. Order him to shut up now. He doesn't. He turns around, looking down at the carpet, at the beer in his hands, anywhere but at Daniel. Finally he nods. "All right."

Daniel only hopes that Jack will listen, really listen.

"Nem wanted to know what had happened to Omoroca, in Babylon, five thousand years ago. He thought I knew -- and I _did_ know -- but the memories were buried in my subconscious mind. I forced him to use a device on me that would bring those memories to the surface. He told me it could kill me. I didn't think I had a choice; if he didn't get what he wanted, he was going to hold me prisoner there until I remembered by myself, and I knew I never would."

"We were coming back for you!" Jack says, raising his head to meet Daniel's eyes. Daniel knows it isn't him Jack is talking to, but the other one. The one Jack can't talk to any more.

"I know," he says quietly, though he hadn't. He'd been convinced they'd left him for dead. He'd been terrified. "But even if I knew you'd get your memories back, I had no way of knowing that Nem wouldn't just take them away again -- or kill you -- the next time. I couldn't even be sure that that you'd even find me. I had to do it."

"You should have waited!"

"I had to get back," Daniel says. "To ... them."

Jack turns away, unwilling to let Daniel see his face. Daniel hopes it's better to know. That it helps Jack to know that his Daniel never gave up, wasn't killed in anger, didn't die for nothing.

"And he died," Jack says after a moment.

"It almost killed me," Daniel says. "It could have. But... if Nem brought him back to you... he must have found the answer Nem needed."

Jack just shakes his head.

"I'm sorry," Daniel says. "I wish--"

"No," Jack says. "Leave it, Daniel."

#

A few minutes later Jack comes back over and sits down. He turns on the television. There's a game on. They sit in silence for almost an hour. In other circumstances, Daniel would be bored, but the surrealism of his circumstances fascinates him, even if the events themselves do not.

"You want coffee?" Jack says suddenly. "I've got coffee."

"Coffee would be good," Daniel agrees.

"Because, you know, you really can't handle beer."

Jack has worked -- something -- out in his head, the way he always does if given enough time. This is a peace offering. Problem solved. Discussion closed.

"There was this guy once. He told me there was a rule against drinking wine with pizza. So I drink the beer." _I understand. We're good,_ Daniel tells him implicitly. Silence, indirection, these are languages too.

"Yeah. Sheets on the spare bed are pretty clean."

"Okay. Good. You want me to make the coffee?"

"You probably know where everything is."

#

In the morning, they drive back to The Mountain. Jack signs him back in and nobody says anything. He takes Daniel down to the commissary with him for breakfast and Daniel sits with him and Sam and Robert; Teal'c has already left for Chulak. Except for the fact that Robert is here in a team uniform and Daniel's has no insignia, he could imagine that the last months never happened.

Robert has only been on the team a few weeks, and things are still awkward. Jack intimidates the hell out of Robert, and that's not a good basis for a working relationship. Daniel knows that Robert is SG-1's seventh AT specialist since their loss; it's a lot of performance pressure. He'd like to think he could do something to smooth their relationship -- though maybe things will go a little better now -- but more of his mind is occupied with his own problems. Can Sam send him back to his own universe? There's everything he needs here to save Abydos, if he can just figure out how to get it through the Mirror.

If he can get through the Mirror to the right place.

Then Sam mentions that Senator Kinsey is going to be here in a few hours for some kind of hearing.

"Doesn't General Hammond usually go to Washington?" Daniel asks, puzzled.

"Not this time, I guess," Sam says, equally puzzled.

Jack shrugs, but Daniel can tell he's tense. "Hammond mentioned it yesterday. Something about the budget. Don't worry about it, Carter."

After breakfast, he walks Daniel back to his quarters and tells him to stay put. Guest ID and limited freedom of the Base are on the agenda for later today, but he doesn't have them yet. But the books he took from Robert's office yesterday are still here, and he never has enough time to read. About the time he's trying to decide if it's worth the trouble trying to talk the airman on the door into going for more coffee, another airman comes and tells him that he's summoned to the Briefing Room.

#

"So despite your mission report, Dr. Jackson isn't actually dead."

Daniel regards the man at the foot of the table. Silver-haired, dissatisfied, flanked by aides and Major Samuels. He must be the Senator Jack was mentioning at breakfast. He has the look of a querulous toad.

"Care to tell me how many other times you've lied in your reports to the Pentagon, Colonel O'Neill?"

"Oh for crying out loud, Kinsey -- that isn't our Daniel!"

"Really?" Senator Kinsey says archly.

He glances at General Hammond. The General nods -- permission to speak -- and motions for Daniel to sit down.

"It's true, Senator," he says. "I'm, ah, actually from an alternate universe. Your Daniel Jackson died on P3X-866, the planet also referred to in our mission reports as Oannes."

"And how -- if I may ask -- did you get here, in that case?"

Sam explains about the Quantum Mirror, but Senator Kinsey simply refuses to believe her. It's worse than that, though. Daniel listens in horror as Kinsey explains that he intends to shut down the Stargate Program immediately.

"But- But you can't do that! Not now! Jack -- General Hammond -- you've got to tell him! Senator, Apophis is coming to destroy the Earth -- he's coming with ships, with a fleet, right now. In my universe, he's already done it -- Earth is gone, the SGC is gone, everyone's dead--"

"And I suppose you saw this with your own eyes, Dr. Jackson?" Senator Kinsey asks, smirking.

"I was offworld, _Senator_. That's why I'm alive."

Senator Kinsey gets to his feet.

"Well this has all been very interesting. And frankly, Dr. Jackson, once this program has ceased operation, I think you should get professional help. But I've heard nothing here today -- not your ridiculous fantasies, not Colonel O'Neill's warmongering imperialism, not Captain Carter's ludicrous notions of Science for the sake of Science -- that have convinced me to keep Pandora's Box open one minute longer. The Stargate Project is a clear and present danger to these United States, and I, for one, will not rest until the Stargate is buried forever."

"Save the speeches, Kinsey," Jack growls.

"Colonel O'Neill," General Hammond says warningly.

"Senator, you have to listen to me," Daniel says. "The _Goa'uld_ have _spaceships_. If we bury the Stargate, we won't stop them from coming. We'll only destroy our only means to fight them."

Kinsey smiles. "If they want to come, let them. I do not believe that the Divine Providence which has shaped this great nation of ours will allow what you are telling me to come to pass. If your _Goa'uld_ challenge us, we shall prevail."

Kinsey's insane.

Daniel tries to follow him as he walks away, but Jack stops him.

He looks back at the others, not believing that this is any kind of a joke, but hoping they're going to tell him that somehow it isn't true. But what General Hammond says is that because of Senator Kinsey's recommendation, the SGC will have to cease operation as soon as the teams that are offworld return.

"Jack- General Hammond- You can't let him do this--" Daniel says. How can they accept the evidence of the Quantum Mirror, of what he's told them, and let Senator Kinsey do this?

"I'm sorry, son," General Hammond says, sounding disgusted and weary. "I'm afraid that 'Senator' outranks 'General.'"

"We'll see about that," Jack says grimly. "General, doesn't what Daniel has to say cut any ice in Washington?"

General Hammond shakes his head. "I'll go make some calls."

#

Teal'c is one of the last people back through the Gate before it's shut down 36 hours later. He should have stayed away. He comes back with information from Shau'nac that makes Daniel want to scream, cry, hit something: here, as well as there, Apophis is preparing to invade Earth. The fleet hasn't left yet, but it will soon.

Teal'c is debriefed, though it's just a formality now, since the SGC is shutting down. The worst of it is that he's trapped here now, unable to leave. Daniel sits in on the debriefing, since the comparisons he can still offer between his world and this are -- apparently, even though Kinsey has decided to kill them all -- still vital.

Here they aren't facing the combined forces of the System Lords. Shau'nac is certain. It is only Apophis and his son, Prince Klorel who will come. Shau'nac believes, in fact, that Apophis is keeping his plans a secret from the other System Lords. It will probably be only two _ha'tak_.

"Why?" Daniel asks. "Why would it be different here and there?"

Sam shrugs, baffled. "Daniel, there are so many variables--"

"Doesn't matter," Jack says, cutting her off. "Intel's good, and this gives us better odds. So what are we facing, T?"

"One _ha'tak_ is sufficient to destroy a world from space," Teal'c says. So much for better odds. "If Apophis wishes to send troops down to the surface, a _Goa'uld_ mothership carries five thousand warriors in addition to its crew, and is able to carry more. Additionally, it carries many death-gliders; _al'kesh_ , which are mid-range heavy bombing craft; and _tel'tak_ , which are unarmed cargo vessels, but which contain transport rings. I do not believe there are transport rings on the surface of this planet, but should a _tel'tak_ be landed here, troops and materiels can be ringed down from the mothership to the _tel'tak_ , and in a matter of a few hours, the ring platform inside a _tel'tak_ may be removed and placed in a permanent planetary location to serve as a staging area."

"Oh, that doesn't sound good," Jack drawls.

"But we know where he is, right? The, the, where he's coming from?" Daniel says. "He's still there? We can still stop him?"

"Shau'nac does not believe that Apophis' fleet will depart its present location for some days yet, Daniel Jackson."

"General Hammond?" he says. "I know you have orders. I know I didn't see it actually happen in my world. But now you've got Teal'c's information. Apophis is going to attack Earth. He'll destroy everything here. You've got to do something. Please--"

"Daniel." Jack puts a hand on his arm and squeezes gently. Daniel groans in frustration.

Robert just looks stunned.

#

It's a few hours after the debriefing. Daniel is down in Sam's lab. Sam's packing.

"I don't really see the point to this," he says tightly. _You should go to San Diego; say goodbye to Mark and the kids while you can._

"Orders," Sam says. "They tell me to close up shop, that's what I have to do." She's angry, but not at him.

Jack comes in then, and seems relieved to see him here. Daniel's got a Guest ID now -- which gives him limited freedom of the Base -- but he hates running into people who know he -- the other him -- is dead. He's just come up from Robert's office. Right now Robert is trying to decide whether to resign from SG-1 or just take his accumulated leave before the end of the world. It's a tough choice.

"Daniel, let's take a walk. Not you, Carter. You just keep ... following orders."

#

Jack walks Daniel back to quarters. It's as private there as you can get with a bedroom that has security cameras.

"I know this is hard," Jack says, closing the door behind them.

"Hard?" Daniel demands angrily. "Watching a bunch of bureaucrats kill everyone on Earth? What would make you think that, Jack?"

"Don't give up just yet," Jack says. "General Hammond's on the horn right now. He's flying to Washington in a couple of hours to try to change Kinsey's mind."

"We can't just sit here and wait for them to attack," Daniel says desperately. "There's nothing here that can stop them. You know that."

"I know," Jack says. "But we've got a lot better shot at taking out two motherships if we can go through the Gate at full-strength: at least four SG Teams and a couple of nukes. We can't get that kind of manpower and equipment with the Program shut down. Look, when was the last time you slept? Or ate something?"

Daniel pushes his glasses up and rubs his eyes. "I don't know."

He hasn't slept since that night at Jack's house. He came back to The Mountain the next day, thinking about the future, and discovered there wasn't going to be one. He supposes he should ask them to send him back through the Mirror while there's still time, but what can he do on the other side without help they can't give him now?

"Well, get some rest, would you? By tomorrow, I think you're gonna be the only person down here that reads _Goa'uld_ , and Carter's probably gonna need a little help with those mothership blueprints."

"We can't let him win," Daniel says. He isn't sure himself who he means: Apophis or Senator Kinsey.

"We never let them win," Jack says firmly. "Come on now. Get some sleep. Do that, and we'll all go out for pizza later. Or maybe Chinese."

"It's been a long time since I've seen the sun," Daniel says plaintively. He thinks of the eternal sunshine of the Land of Light. They could save a few hundred people -- of all the peoples of Earth -- if they sent them there. If there was enough time.

"Hate to tell you, but I think it's raining up there. Still."

"Yeah. Okay. Sleep." He's sure he can't sleep, but Jack's words have given him hope. Nuclear weapons destroyed Ra's ship. They can destroy Apophis's. Daniel sits down on the bed and begins to unlace his boots.

#

General Hammond is in Washington for three days, and the SGC becomes progressively emptier during that time as his staff follows the orders they've been given before he left. The Teams have been stood down and sent home on leave; the Infirmary is on a skeleton staff; nearly everybody on 18 has been sent home and half the techs on 19 are gone. The only people in the SGC are the technical staff, the maintenance crews, the clerical and support people, and the security force.

And SG-1.

And him, of course. He has nowhere else to be. If the Program is shut down, well, it doesn't matter, as Earth is doomed. But if not...

He needs to go home.

#

"I'd send you back right now if I could," Sam says. "But you have to understand. There are millions of quantum variations. I know yours is close to ours, relatively speaking -- but finding the right one -- exactly -- could take weeks. I don't have weeks. If I guess wrong, I could kill you."

They both look toward the Quantum Mirror. It's dark; just a piece of rock. Time is the one thing Sam doesn't have, and they both know it. The Mirror is supposed to be shipped to Area 51 along with the rest of the alien artifacts, but so far Sam has managed to block that.

"Ah?" Daniel says, looking puzzled. Sam goes on.

"It was lucky for you that you came to a universe where you didn't still exist. If you'd gone through the Mirror into one where you were still alive, well, two identical objects can't co-exist. Either you both would have died, or ... just you."

"Why me?" He's curious in spite of everything.

"You'd be the most recent arrival, and inherently unstable."

"Maybe there would just have been a really big explosion."

Sam smiles grimly. "There's that."

Daniel looks back at the Mirror. Home is somewhere through it -- Sha're, Skaara, and a world he needs to save. But right now he feels the need to be here, too.

Maybe he can still do some good.

#

He's down in Robert's office again when Jack pokes his head through the door. The two of them are closing down the Department practically by themselves. There are a thousand things to do; deciding what artifacts get shipped to what archives, just to begin with. He and Robert have been overseeing the packing and crating up on 14, with a few breaks back in the office to try to keep up with the endless demands from Area 51 for information they simply don't have any more. If they did the packing right it would take months to clear out Cataloguing and Translation. They're not doing it right. He and Robert have at least been trying to make sure that the airmen don't break anything, not that its going to matter if General Hammond can't win in Washington.

"Okay," Jack announces to the room at large, "the commissary food officially sucks. Come on, you guys, we're going out for lunch."

"I've really got a lot of work to finish up here, Colonel," Robert says nervously. Daniel expects Jack to snap something back -- they're all under a lot of stress -- but he doesn't. Jack is looking at Robert with a very odd expression. Then Jack looks at him.

"Daniel?" Jack asks.

"Pizza or Chinese?" Daniel asks in return. He's already getting to his feet.

"O'Malley's," Jack says.

#

O'Malley's is busy and noisy and Sam looks puzzled about being dragged out of The Mountain for lunch; she doesn't have as much work to do as Daniel and Robert do, but there's still a lot. Teal'c just looks impassive. He's going to die when Apophis reaches Earth, but he hasn't said a word about it.

Jack waits until the server has taken their orders and left.

"General Hammond got back from Washington this morning," he tells them. "Kinsey won't budge. The Joint Chiefs won't move on the basis of Teal'c's info to overrule him."

"What about Teal'c?" Daniel asks. "They've at least got to let him go home to his family."

"Oh, they will," Jack says sourly. "Next month some time, Hammond figures. Kinsey's a compassionate man."

"Next month will be too late," Teal'c observes calmly.

Jack sighs deeply. "Yeah, it will. So I figure we fire up the Gate now. From Chulak, I figure I can get to those other coordinates, maybe do a little damage. I won't have a nuke, but there's still plenty of C-4 in the armory."

Teal'c regards him impassively. "We will go there together, O'Neill."

For a moment -- here in a crowded restaurant in Colorado Springs -- it’s a replay of that moment at the Chulak Gate. Only this time both Jack and Teal'c are going off on a suicide mission, and Daniel knows he can't let them go alone.

"I'm going with you," Daniel says. "We're all going together, right?"

Daniel sees Jack hesitate, making up his mind. But Jack will take him, Daniel knows he will. It's why he's here and Robert isn't.

Jack nods briefly, then looks at Sam. "Captain?" Jack says. "This isn't an order. In fact, it's probably treason. If we get back alive -- which I seriously doubt -- you and I are going to be court-martialed."

Sam smiles. "Yes, Colonel. Thank you. I understand that. I'm going." She hesitates. "What about Robert?"

"Dr. Rothman has a previous engagement, Carter."

#

After lunch, they spend most of the rest of the day stealing what they need. C-4, weapons, commando gear, a MALP. All of Daniel's gear has to be replaced, but that isn't very difficult.

Jack sends Robert home precisely at 1700 hours.

They wait until midnight to make their move.

They couldn't do this at all if the SGC weren't in the middle of being shut down, because the Gate Room and the Control Room would be filled with soldiers and techs. But General Hammond is in his quarters, and Level 28 is deserted. Nobody even notices the patchwork SG-1 in full commando gear -- plus MALP -- making their way to the Gate Room from the armory.

He isn't carrying much besides a Beretta, grenades, and thirty pounds of C-4. None of them is carrying much besides explosives this trip.

They have to send a MALP through first because they're dead if they walk into the middle of a bunch of Jaffa, but the delay is going to increase the risk of them being stopped before they can get through the Gate. A trade-off, but one Jack insisted on. Jack and Sam disable all the doors between the Gate Room and everywhere else, but the moment Daniel punches in the coordinates Teal'c has given him, warning klaxons sound throughout the Base. General Hammond will be here in minutes, and he will have no choice but to arrest them all.

They send the MALP through. Dark on the other side. Sam switches to infra-red.

" _Goa'uld_ ," Daniel says, seeing the familiar not-quite-Egyptian motifs appear.

Sam sends a radio signal to the MALP to retreat. It will dissolve once it enters the event horizon going 'backward', but they don't dare leave it where it is.

They run for the Gate.

#

They're not on a planet. They're not even on a normal _ha'tak_ \-- they get to a window where they can look out and see. They're on something much bigger -- something that can contain a Stargate. And they're trapped.

They have their C-4, but Shau'nac said there were _two_ ships. Even if they blow up this ship, the other will still reach Earth.

"Oh, god," Daniel groans. "We've failed."

"Not yet," Jack says absently. "There's gotta be a way to get over to the other ship. We'll think of something. Now you and Carter go make yourselves interesting while Teal'c and I go talk to the driver of this bus."

"Jack--" he says. He isn't sure what he wants to say. _Be careful?_ Pretty stupid advice considering that this is a suicide mission.

"Run along and play," Jack says. "We'll rendezvous back at the Gate Room."

#

For the next hour he and Sam set charges, until all their C-4 is gone; the time they spent going over the information on _ha'tak_ s that they got from Teal'c has paid off; Sam is sure that the ship will explode when the C-4 does. She's careful, setting the charges to trigger with both a timer and a radio detonator, though she'll have to be fairly close for the radio detonator to work. Based on the coordinates -- and Teal'c's estimate of the top speed of a _ha'tak_ \-- the ship will take weeks to reach Earth, but even if it's only a few days, Sam has set the timer to go off in 24 hours: long before the ship reaches Earth. They just need to find a way to get to the other ship to do the same thing, though Sam thinks there's a good possibility that the explosion of one ship in hyperspace will destroy both.

So Earth is safe, though Daniel will never see Abydos again.

#

Sam's placing her last few blocks of C-4 on the Stargate itself. Not that she thinks she can blow it up, but there's the possibility that the _naquaadah_ will increase the force of the explosion and at least disable the DHD. Teal'c was fairly certain that nobody would come to the Gate Room while the ships were in transit -- that's why they picked the Gate Room for their rendezvous point -- but while Sam's working, they hear people coming and hide.

It's Skaara. The Jaffa address him as 'my lord Klorel,' and Daniel feels a wave of revulsion: his playful, laughing brother-in-law, Sha're's brother, has become the host of the son of Apophis.

Jack and Teal'c are Klorel's prisoners. There is a form of _vo'cuum_ linked to the Stargate, and through it Klorel reports this news to Apophis, who orders him to execute them on the _pel'tac_ , where the Jaffa may witness their deaths.

Daniel and Sam go to rescue them.

But everything goes wrong, even though they manage to fight their way onto the _pel'tac_. They don't have weeks or even days until Apophis's ships reach Earth. They're in Earth's solar system _now._ They can't get to the second ship -- they don't have Klorel as a hostage, because Jack had to kill him to save Daniel's life.

They're trapped on the _pel'tac_ , out of transmitter range of the C-4. And then they're captured.

#

He awakens blind. In the darkness, he hears Teal'c's voice telling Jack that this is the aftereffects of a _Goa'uld_ shock grenade, and it will soon pass. Daniel doesn't care.

He saw a sarcophagus earlier. Klorel will rise from the dead. His resurrection will be brief; his ship will explode within a day. But by then all the cities of Earth will be gone.

He finds a wall by touch and curls up against it.

"Daniel? Hey. Take it easy. We're just having a bad day, that's all," Jack says out of the darkness.

"Everyone on Earth is going to die," Daniel says. "It happened in my universe and now it's happening here! We tried to stop it and we failed! We failed!"

"Just calm down. It's going to get better," Jack says calmly. "You'll see."

#

His sight comes back slowly, and by the time it does, Daniel can see Jack prowling the cell, looking for a way out. They all hear the sound of Jaffa boots in the corridor and Daniel gets to his feet. He's not sure what's coming, but he doesn't think it can be good.

But Jack was right and he is wrong. It _does_ get better.

Master Bra'tac is the one who comes to their cell. He's come -- not to rescue them, precisely -- but to ally himself with them. He has once more become Apophis' First Prime, and for some reason he is here on this ship with Klorel instead of on the other one with Apophis. He tells them that the ships are holding off their attack against Earth until Klorel rises again.

Sam says that it's now less than an hour until the C-4 goes off on its timer. They've been unconscious for most of a day, which means that Klorel will rise soon. It only took the sarcophagus half a day to revive Daniel when he was killed on Abydos, so even though Jack shot Klorel several times, Daniel does not think it can take much longer for Klorel.

Bra'tac says he knows of a way to get to the other ship. There are transport rings on the _pel'tac_ deck. If they can reach them, and make their way to Apophis' ship, there's still a chance. For what, Daniel isn't sure.

Bra'tac gets their vests and weapons back -- though he cannot get the packs with the rest of their explosives -- and they make their way upward through the mothership.

#

They stop outside the door to the _pel'tac_. Bra'tac insists on going in alone, saying they'll know when it is time to follow. A moment later -- even through the door -- they hear the now-familiar whine of the ribbon device.

"Let's go!" Jack says. "Daniel, watch our backs."

Sam thrusts her MP5 at him and follows Jack through the door. Sam has one of those Jaffa weapons -- a zat'nik'atel. Of course Jack is already calling them 'zats.'

Daniel hears gunfire and screams from inside. He's out here because it's safer, but he doesn't really feel safe. He draws his Beretta as well.

A moment later two Jaffa come around the corner and he opens up with both the MP5 and the Beretta. The submachine gun rides up in his hand and the noise is deafening. He yells for Jack, but he can't even hear the sound of his own voice over the sound of the weapon. Some of the bullets glance off the heavy armored Jaffa collars. Most plow right in through the chainmail. One ricochets upward, and one of the Jaffas' faces is gone in a spray of blood. Daniel stares in horrified fascination, barely remembering to release his grip on the trigger as they begin to fall. It's over so fast.

He's doing fine until the third one appears. He starts to swing the MP5 back into firing position again, but he's too late. The Jaffa lowers his staff-weapon and fires.

He's been hit by one of these before. He remembers it from Abydos. The shock. The pain. The fact that the blast from a staff weapon doesn't just burn; the pulse hits as hard as a bullet, and Daniel is flung backward as hard as if he'd been punched. He feels things snap and give in his chest. It makes his hand clutch the trigger again, and he sprays the corridor with bullets, a jerky uncoordinated burst that catches his attacker across the knees. The Jaffa bows into the last of the burst and his face explodes.

Then Jack is there, lifting him up. Daniel feels more things tear inside.

"Daniel! Dammit!"

_I just keep dying, don't I?_ Jack can't be here now. They don't have time.

"No! Leave me. I'll be dead anyway -- just get out of here -- _go!_ "

"I am not leaving you here!" Jack is still dragging him upright, trying to get him on his feet.

"Get out of here!" Daniel gasps. "You're just going to blow up with the other ship anyway! Go! Just -- go! I'll stay and -- and -- and watch your back."

Because he's dying.

Jack lowers him gently to the deck again. He ruffles Daniel's hair quickly, and then he's gone.

Daniel scrabbles until he gets his hands on the MP5 again. It feels slippery and heavy in his hands -- heavier than before -- and the front of his shirt is wet. But he kicks backward until he has a bulkhead at his back and can push himself into a sitting position. He blinks, forcing his eyes open wide. The corridor is clear.

Breathing hurts, and he tries to concentrate. The others have to have had a clear shot at the rings. They've already gone. Maybe they can destroy the other ship. Save Earth, if not themselves.

_There's a sarcophagus in the Gate Room. If I can get there I have a chance..._

He loops the carrystrap of the gun over his shoulder and drags himself to his feet. The pain is so bad it blinds him for a moment; he's panting, short shallow breaths that don't seem to bring him any air. He takes a wavering step and hears something snap underfoot. His glasses. Doesn't matter, since he can't really see, but it angers him that he keeps losing his glasses.

He inches down the hallway slowly, clinging to the wall. He's fading fast, and the ship will go up soon, but it's important to keep trying. Jack would want to know that he kept trying to stay alive, though there won't be any way -- this time -- to let him know.

The sarcophagus is a long way from here. He'll never make it.

Got to try.

Keep moving.

The wall is rough beneath his palms, covered with alien hieroglyphs, but his hands are slick with sweat and keep slipping. When they do, he lurches harder into the wall than he intends to. Tears and sweat are running down his face, but he forces himself onward. Will the sarcophagus be there? Will it work in time to save him?

It's getting dark.

Move.

He slips in his own blood and falls, and the impact makes him scream. But it's all right, nearly there, he drags himself up again and hammers wildly at the door opening mechanism, lurching through on will alone, knowing he's dying by heartbeats. The sarcophagus is there, and right now he doesn't care if the ship explodes while he's in it; all he cares about is getting into it because that means _the pain will stop._

Move.

He drags himself to the edge of the sarcophagus and falls in. Pain steals his breath at the impact, and as the wings of the lid fold over him, the light surrounds him.

#

A month ago they saved the Earth from the _Goa'uld_. O'Neill isn't sure how he feels about Skaara being dead. He'd like to grieve for him, but he's seen Klorel up close now. So it seems almost like a release.

"You sure you've got everything you need?"

"Yes, Jack, I'm sure," Daniel says patiently.

Daniel is standing in front of the Quantum Mirror in Carter's office. He's been going back and forth through it all morning, since you can only go through the Mirror with what you're actually carrying, and he needs to take a lot of ... stuff.

Guns. Ammunition. Explosives. Grenades. Medical supplies.

A GDO, just in case.

Books. Not Daniel's kind, though there are a few of those, too. Books on tactics. Survival. Evasion and escape. Books on making weapons. Everything you need to start a rebellion.

And -- O'Neill hopes -- win one.

"Spare glasses?"

Daniel grins at him. "Three pairs in hard-sided cases. And a repair kit."

"Good. Now remember, get off 233 as fast as possible. Teal'c says it's... Crush Me."

" _Korosh-ni,_ O'Neill. The planet is not safe for human life. But I believe that Daniel Jackson will be safe for as long as it takes him to transport his equipment to the Stargate and return to the Land of Light."

"You're sure about this?" O'Neill asks, although he's pretty sure that Daniel's sure.

A month ago he, Carter, Teal'c, and Master Bra'tac got back to the SGC to find Daniel waiting for them. He'd managed to get to Klorel's sarcophagus, then used the Stargate on the _Goa'uld_ ship to go through to the Land of Light. He'd radioed the SGC from there, and Hammond had brought him home.

Only this isn't Daniel's home. His Earth is gone, but Daniel's a survivor. A fighter. He's going to fight for Abydos now. Maybe he can still save Sha're. O'Neill has promised they'll still try to save her here.

"I'm sure," Daniel says. "And Jack? Thanks. For everything."

"Call it even," O'Neill says. "And Daniel? Kill a few of the snakeheads for me."

"I'll do my best."

Daniel hugs Carter -- awkwardly; the pack on his back is heavy -- and Teal'c clasps his forearm in that Jaffa thing. He turns to O'Neill, holding out his hand, and they shake formally. Daniel grins, as if they're sharing a private joke. Maybe they are.

Then he turns away and touches the Mirror one last time. There's a flash of light, and he's on the other side. He waves to them, then turns away, starting to gather his equipment together. O'Neill takes the controller from Carter's hands and shuts it down. The Mirror goes dark.

_See you around, Dr. Jackson._

"Come on, kids. Let's find Rothman and see what the Commissary is doing about lunch."

###


End file.
